South Africa-born Wayne Madsen is set to lead Italy in the T20 World Cup. Italy are playing in the mega event for the first time in cricket history and have been placed in Group C alongside, Nepal, Scotland, England and the West Indies. They will play their first game on February 9 against Scotland at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and will be keen on making an impact in their maiden appearance in the global event. Meanwhile, Italy's captain Wayne Madsen has made the headlines as he is set to become the first athlete to represent two countries in a World Cup in two different sports.
He featured for South Africa in the Hockey World Cup in 2006 and 20 years later, will represent Italy in the T20 World Cup 2026. Madsen was just 22 years old when he was picked in South Africa's Hockey World Cup squad where the team underperformed significantly. The team played five matches, losing three and drawing two. They drew level 1-1 and 2-2 with India and South Korea, respectively.
South Africa faced India for the 11th-place playoff as well and lost the match 0-1 to end the World Cup in last place.
Wayne Madsen was also eligible to play for England
At the age of 22, Madsen played for South Africa in the Hockey World Cup in 2006. At the time, he had already made his first-class and List A debut for KwaZulu-Natal in 2004 in South Africa's domestic circuit. After the Hockey World Cup, Madsen played for Derbyshire in England's domestic cricket for the majority of his first-class career and a few years later, he was also eligible to play for England, his adopted country, at the international level. Unfortunately, he could never play international cricket for either South Africa or England.
In July 2023, Wayne Madsen made his international debut for Italy against Jersey and has played seven matches in the format since then. At the age of 42, he is set to lead Italy in the T20 World Cup and will be keen on making an impact. So far, Madsen has scored 205 runs at a strike rate of 132.25 with two half-centuries. He has a lot of experience playing in T20 cricket in 219 matches, scoring 5516 runs at a strike rate of 135.16 with two tons and 35 fifties to his team.
Italy have started their time in India well, beating a higher-ranked Canada in their opening warm-up game and will be keen on continuing their winning momentum in the tournament proper as well.
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