When Italy walked into this T20 World Cup, it did not arrive with the certainty of a system or the confidence of history. It arrived carrying something more fragile and more powerful – belief stitched together from astroturf pitches, time borrowed from work, long-distance flights, family histories, and quiet sacrifice.
For most of the squad, this World Cup is not the next step in a linear career. It is an interruption to ordinary life. They have come here from jobs. From club cricket played on astroturf surfaces. From countries that raised them in cricket cultures far removed from the one whose colours they now wear.
“The guys have trained well. We’ve had a couple of good wins against Ireland (in a T20I series) and Namibia (T20 WC practice match), and we’re starting to build a lot of confidence in the group,” said skipper Wayne Madsen ahead of the tournament. Confidence, for Italy, is not bravado. It is something accumulated slowly, almost cautiously. “We’re finding our ways and methods to win games,” Madsen added.
The word journey is not an affectation here. It is literal. Italy’s preparation was deliberate, detailed, and unusually introspective for a team still building its identity.
“We’ve got our coaching staff who’ve been fantastic. The work they’ve put in has been meticulous – in terms of the teams we’re going to be playing against, and our own skills and preparation. All of them (John Davison, Kevin O’Brien, and Dougie Brown) have got a lot of experience being underdog players in World Cups and performing. So, it’s great to sort of lean on their knowledge,” said the 42-year-old.
What stood out, though, was a decision that signalled self-awareness. “In preparation for coming here, we made use of a sports psychologist as well,” said the captain. “The pressures of playing in big stadiums, in front of a lot of fans, is going to be new to a lot of our players.”
Andy Hooton, a sports psychologist Madsen works with at Derbyshire, came on board after conversations that began in November. “Davo (head coach Davison) and I spoke about it. He (Hooton) has been with us probably for the last couple of months. In the last month, particularly, we’ve had a lot of chats around the mental side of this World Cup – what it’s going to be for individuals and the team as well,” said Madsen.
For Italian cricket, it was unfamiliar territory. “As far as I’m aware, it’s something new for the team,” Madsen admitted. But the need was obvious. “We felt it was really important, in particular for our guys who are not involved in professional set-ups, to be able to deal with pressure in these situations,” he said.
That line – not involved in professional set-ups – defines Italy’s World Cup more than any tactical plan. “Probably half of our squad,” Madsen said, pausing to calculate, “Or maybe even just over half, have jobs outside cricket. We’ve got a handful of professionals. But we’ve also got guys who are juggling jobs and have sacrificed so much to be able to come here to this World Cup and perform on this stage.”
Those individual journeys, he believes, have shaped the team’s identity. “The journeys of the individuals in this group bring us together. What it means for us – that togetherness is really there. The bond we have as a group of Italians is really special,” he said.
Time to adapt
It is not a bond forged by central contracts or shared academies. It is built by necessity. If emotional adaptation has been a challenge, technical adaptation has been just as stark. “There is club cricket in Italy, but none of it is on natural turf pitches. Everything is astroturf. All the pitches are astro,” he said. For players raised entirely on artificial surfaces, adapting to natural turf is not a minor adjustment. “It’s a big adjustment when we go to tournaments,” Madsen said.
To bridge that gap, Italy’s home-based players went to Sri Lanka for six weeks before travelling to Dubai. Astroturf, Madsen felt, offers a sharper, higher bounce and a different trajectory. Natural turf demands recalibration. “They trained outside as a group to make sure they were ready, and had adapted to the different bounce,” he said.
The absence of infrastructure is something Italy’s Australia-bred pacer Thomas Draca spoke about with urgency rather than frustration. “There are 10 clubs currently,” Draca said. “But it (club cricket) is nowhere near Australia or England or India. I don’t think we have a turf square.”
For him, the World Cup is not just about competition. “If we can get funding and grow the game, that’s what’s most important. That’s the legacy we want to leave,” Draca said.
Anthony Joseph Mosca’s journey to this World Cup began far from Italian club grounds. He and his brother Justin Mosca, Italy’s opening pair, are from Australia, but their roots remain firmly Italian. “Our parents and grandparents were born in Italy. For many of us in this team, our families are from Italy. We have a lot of Italian heritage (in the team). So, Italian was the first language in some of our households,” Anthony said.
He grew up playing grade cricket in Sydney, admiring and wanting to emulate Ricky Ponting’s pull shot and Damien Martyn’s cover drive. He didn’t fully grasp the scale of Italian cricket until just before COVID. “The federation contacted Ben Manenti. And Benny passed on my name and my brother’s,” he recalled. Though the pandemic paused his travel, the commitment remained. “They told us the steps it would take to get to this level and we were prepared to take that on.”
Two sets of brothers
That journey has been eased by familiarity. Alongside his sibling are the Manenti brothers, Ben and Harry – friends first, teammates later. “We played cricket together back in Australia. We played at the same grade club in Sydney. For the last 15 years, we’ve been close mates – brothers, not by blood.”
For Anthony, the weight of Italy’s history-making World Cup qualification settled in one simple truth: it made his mother happy. It brought pride to her voice, a smile to her face, and tears to her eyes. In that moment, history felt human. “At the qualifiers in the Netherlands, mum sent a video through. All the parents had to send videos to the players about how proud they were. And it brought a tear to my mum’s eye. Once dad passed away, life was tough for her. I know she’s very happy now. She’s got a smile on her face to see the two boys playing here in the World Cup,” Anthony said.
His teammate Draca is out to make his “uncle”, the great Dennis Lillee, proud. Draca is running in this T20 World Cup with a chain once worn by Lillee. “He’s actually given me his World Series chain. It’s got his Test cap and his signature on it. He gave it to me for my 21st birthday. In this World Cup, I’ll be wearing it, and I want to do him proud,” said the 25-year-old.
Lillee is not a footnote in Draca’s story; he is the axis. “Dennis is probably the reason why I’ve continued to play. And the reason why I want to bowl fast. I wouldn’t be here without him,” Draca said.
Draca’s commitment is tied to clarity about his role. Italy has options in medium pace. “So, my role in the team is to bowl fast. Trying to bowl up around 140 kph, that’s my role. That’s my attribute.” Pace, for Draca, is not flourish; it is function. That function has been sharpened by intent. In the months leading into this World Cup, Draca put his bowling through a deliberate rebuild, chasing pace not as an impulse, but as preparation. “I worked with Shahbaz Choudhry, a fast-bowling coach in the UK. Over the last four months, with Dennis’ involvement as well, Shahbaz has rebuilt my action. I started off in the low-80s (mph), and recently I’ve been bowling around 88 or 89 (mph). All the hard work we’ve done over the last four or five months was preparation for this tournament,” Draca said.
For Draca, who was longlisted for the IPL 2025 mega auction, this World Cup offers a chance to align fortune with a dream he has carried for years – “to play for Mumbai Indians, to play with Hardik Pandya.” Hardik, he said, is his “hero.”
For Italy, this World Cup is not an arrival. It is an argument. “Cricket (in Italy) will grow with this exposure,” Madsen said. “It’s nowhere near football, but this helps.” What Italy carries in this tournament is not illusion, but intent. And belief – belief that cricket can belong in Italy too.