Italy are in touching distance of a place in the T20 World Cup 2026 next year after Joe Burns and Co beat Scotland in a crunch clash in the ongoing Europe Qualifiers in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday, July 9. Emilio Gay, Grant Stewart, and Harry Manenti combined to hand Italy a historic and probably their most important victory on their road to qualifying for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka.
Italy elected to bat and losing two out of their top three batters for run-a-ball scores on either side of 10 wouldn't be what they would have hoped for a start, but Emilio Gay was quietly becoming dangerous at the other end. Gay slammed a 20-ball fifty and Italy came roaring back into the contest. However, the joy was short-lived as he perished immediately after reaching the milestone. There was another period of losing two-three wickets for nothing for Italy before Grant Stewart lifted his side's scoring.
Stewart's unbeaten 44 off just 27 balls meant that Italy had some score to bowl to, which they eventually did. And he did the job with the ball, too. Scotland lost a couple of wickets in the powerplay but veterans George Munsey and captain Richie Berrington ensured that there were no further casualties. The duo stitched a 105-run partnership but took a little too many balls.
Stewart and Ben Manenti might not have taken the wickets, but they kept things tight, and it was the latter's brother Harry who got all the rewards. Harry Manenti ended up taking a fifer and Scotland panicked in the end to fluff a chase, they should have gotten done with.
Italy began their campaign with an easy win over Guernsey. The washout against Jersey didn't help but they won when they needed to, against a team they needed to and now will be up against the Dutch, who acquire the second place on the table but are vulnerable, having shown that in a close loss to Scotland.
As far as the table is concerned, Italy are the safest as they already have five points in the bag. However, all four of the Netherlands, Scotland, Italy and Jersey are in contention for the two spots and it will be a race to the finishing line on Friday, July 11.
