Historic cricket win for Italy at T20 World Cup

MUMBAI, India (AP):

Italy earned a momentous maiden cricket win at the T20 World Cup when they stunned Nepal by 10 wickets yesterday.

Brothers Anthony and Justin Mosca sealed the victory with an unbeaten stand for 124-0 after Nepal were bowled out for 123 at the iconic Wankhede Stadium.

Italy’s first win at a global cricket tournament came in their second outing, and the Azzurri joined the Netherlands as the only two non-British European teams to win a game in the T20 World Cup.

In the evening game, tournament co-hosts and defending champions India eased past Namibia by 93 runs in New Delhi. Hardik Pandya put in an all-round performance, hitting 52 off 28 balls and taking 2-21 in four overs.

Captain Dasun Shanaka broke his own record for the fastest Twenty20 half-century for Sri Lanka as they crushed Oman by 105 runs in Pallekele.

HISTORIC DAY FOR ITALY

Italy gained associated member status in 1995 and played their first T20 international in 2019 against Germany.

The team mainly comprises immigrant cricketers: The Mosca and Manenti brothers are Australian-born; injured skipper Wayne Madsen was born in Durban and played international field hockey for South Africa; allrounder JJ Smuts played ODIs and T20s for South Africa until 2021. Allrounder Jaspreet Singh – born in Punjab – brings the Indian flavour,and Crishan Kalugamage – the player of the match against Nepal – comes from Sri Lanka’s spin heritage.

Nepal, at their third T20 World Cup, were riding high after giving England a mighty scare at the same venue on Sunday.

But Kalugamage picked 3-18, including Nepal captain Rohit Paudel. Ben Manenti (2-9) dismissed Lokesh Bam – hero of the England game – for three, and Nepal couldn’t recover. The last seven wickets fell for 30 runs, and Nepal were shot out with three balls to spare.

The Sydney-based Mosca brothers hit nine sixes and eight boundaries – Anthony was 62 not out off 32 balls and Justin 60 not out off 44 – to dismantle the Nepal attack in just 12.4 overs.

Their unbeaten 124 runs was the highest partnership between siblings in men’s T20 World Cups, surpassing the 96 by Pakistan’s Kamran and Umar Akmal against Australia in 2014.

The first ever 10-wicket win for Italy was only the second ever by an associate nation in tournament history.

SRI LANKA WIN

Shanaka’s 19-ball 50 after Kusal Mendis’ 61 and Pavan Rathnayake’s 60 against a weak bowling attack propelled Sri Lanka to a tournament-best 225-5.

Oman laboured to 120-9 in reply, the wickets shared by five bowlers. Off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana led with 2-11 off four overs.

Sri Lanka have two wins from two games but are yet to meet Group B rivals Australia and Zimbabwe.

Oman’s 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem became the oldest man to score a half-century in the history of the T20 World Cup with an unbeaten 53 from 56 balls. Nadeem was one of the only two Oman batters to reach double figures with Wasim Ali scoring 27.

Sri Lanka lost Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishra inside the power play but Rathnayake and Mendis featured in a brisk 94-run third-wicket stand off 52 balls.

Shanaka smacked five sixes to surpass his previous Sri Lanka record of a 20-ball half-century against India in 2023 before he was caught at long-off off the next ball.