Srilanka, July 12 -- They have won the FIFA World Cup four times but in a historic first, Italy's men's cricket team, led by a former Australian Test opener Joe Burns, has qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka.
In the five-team ICC T20 Men's Europe Region final, Italy despite losing their last game to Netherlands by nine wickets on Friday, pipped Jersey on account of superior net run rate to make the cut apart from the 'Oranje' brigade. Italy made 135 and the Netherlands surpassed the target by 9 wickets.
While the Netherlands ended with an all-win record and eight points, both Italy and Jersey were locked on five points each but the 'Azzurris' with a superior Net run rate of +0.612 dashed Jersey...