Italy beat Scotland for the first time in a T20I today (July 9), putting them one win away from sealing their maiden qualification for next year's men's T20 World Cup.
In both side's penultimate match of the men's T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final, from which the top two sides will win a place at the 2026 T20 World Cup, Italy beat Scotland by 12 runs to go top of the table. Italy are unbeaten in the tournament so far, while Scotland now sit one place outside of the qualifying positions having suffered their first defeat.
Emilio Gay stars in gripping win
Durham's Emilio Gay scored a half-century in Italy's innings, opening alongside Justin Mosca. Gay qualifies to play for Italy through his mother and has so far played two T20Is for the side. As Italy is not a full member nation, his appearances for them will not prevent him from playing for England if he is selected. Gay scored over 1,000 runs in the County Championship in 2024, and also played for England Lions against India A last month.
With Gay's 50 sitting alongside a run-a-ball 38 from Harry Manenti and an unbeaten 44 from No.7 by Grant Stewart, Italy were able to post a target of 168 to win. Despite 72 off 61 balls from George Munsey up top and an unbeaten 46 from Richie Berrington, Munsey's wicket in the 18th over saw the total quickly slip out of reach. Only four runs came off Stewart's 19th over and despite three wides going down in the last, Scotland fell short by 12 runs.
Match 7, Italy vs Scotland
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Italy on verge of qualification, Scotland face must-win clash
The win means Italy are leading the points table in the tournament with five points, ahead of Jersey in second place with three points. They are in prime position to qualify for next year's T20 World Cup, with only two of the Netherlands, Scotland or Jersey now able to match their points tally. If they can beat the Netherlands in the final match of the tournament, that would guarantee them a maiden appearance at the senior competition.
pos
team
1
Italy
2
Jersey
3
Scotland
4
Netherlands
5
Guernsey
MP
w
l
nrr
pts
Form Guide
3
2
0
+1.722
5
W
A
W
3
1
1
+0.430
3
W
A
L
3
1
1
-0.150
3
L
W
A
2
1
1
-0.029
2
L
W
3
0
2
-1.941
1
L
A
L
Scotland now face a trickier path. Having competed at the last edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024, they missed out on automatic qualification for next year's competition after finishing outside of the required ICC ranking position on June 30 last year. Now, they must beat Jersey in their final match in order to stay in with a chance of finishing in the qualification positions.
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