'Knock Off Winter Olympics': Italy Coach Hopeful Of Front Page Coverage After Historic T20 World Cup Win
Debutants Italy created history on Thursday when they crushed Nepal by 10 wickets in a Group C match of the T20 World Cup.
Italy head coach John Davison hopes that his side's historic maiden T20 World Cup win will grab front-page headlines back home, knocking the coverage of the ongoing Winter Olympics to the back of the sports section. Debutants Italy created history on Thursday when they crushed Nepal by 10 wickets in a Group C match of the T20 World Cup, recording a massive achievement only in their second game in the tournament.
"This will be front page news in a lot of countries and a lot of publications in Italy I would imagine...I'm hoping," Davison told reporters after the match.
"For us to get that sort of exposure and maybe knock off the Winter Olympics off (to) the back page of the sport would be unbelievable for cricket in the country and (it would) just bring some attention to it," he added.
Stand-in captain Harry Manenti said Italians will bring a different passion to the game of cricket.
"There's a lot more players in the world that play cricket and don't have the privilege that we have, to be able to show what we've got, to represent my family. My brother (Ben Manenti) is in the team with me," Harry said.
"I don't think you'll see many players cry on the field after a win in the group stages. You've got to appreciate what Italy cricket is bringing to the game, understand that the passion is slightly different with the Italians," he added.
Harry said playing against top national teams will help the Italy players to improve their game.
"We want other teams to host us and we build facilities that host them back and that's our goal as a team," he said.
"That will provide opportunities for kids who are currently in Italy, learning the game at a school level, to see us playing in Rome or Milan or Bologna, wherever it might be, to see what the pathway is," Harry added.
Harry admitted that the players of the team are coming from different backgrounds and the country needs more infrastructure.
"We're still a long way away from facilities, coaching within Italy, opportunities for guys to play cricket, and hopefully that comes from this tournament,” he said.
Harry said Italy were tentative against Scotland in their opening match which they lost by a heavy margin, but showed better application here.
“We didn't probably nail it the other night against Scotland, but today we showed what we've got in terms of intentions and our bravery, and that's what rewarded us in the end," he said.
The bowlers set the tone for Italy as they dismissed Nepal for a mere 123, with Ben returning 4-0-9-2.
“Look, (the first over) is an important over to set the tone. When you win the toss and you bowl first, you want to try and start the game in an attacking way,” Harry said.
“We thought the way that we could look, there might be a little bit of spin and hold, so we tried to bowl as much spin in that power play up front as we could and then that's what set the tone, we started well,” he added. PTI DDV APA APA
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