Zürcher Nachrichten - Exhilarating Italy aim to sign off with giant-killing at T20 World Cup

A thumping win over Nepal and giving England a mighty scare are not enough to satisfy a hungry team whose main bowling weapon is a pizza-maker and their leading batsmen are brothers who teach carpentry and physical education.

With confidence growing, the 27th and lowest-ranked team in the tournament are plotting one last hurrah -- a giant-killing against Group C leaders the West Indies in Kolkata on Wednesday.

"We have guys out there who hadn't played under lights before our preparation here," stand-in captain Harry Manenti told reporters after they played some exhilarating cricket in the narrow defeat to England in Kolkata on Tuesday.

"Now they've just been facing Jofra Archer, Jamie Overton and Sam Curran under lights in front of maybe 15,000 people."

- Rome to Eden Gardens -

Manenti explained the magnitude of Italy's rapid rise to the world stage.

"We came from Rome playing in synthetic cricket against some low-end European nations," he said, referring to the artificial wickets.

"We've gone from that to playing England at Eden Gardens in the space of 18 months."

They have one Group C game left against the two-time champions from the Caribbean.

"If we can go out there and compete with the West Indies, whether we are on the right side of the result or not, it's great for Italian cricket."

Italy proved they belonged in exalted company against England, one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Leg-spinner Crishan Kalugamage works in a pizzeria in Tuscany and topped up his three wickets against Nepal with the dismissals of England's Tom Banton and Sam Curran.

With two overs to go Italy, despite being 1-2 after Archer's first over, were still in the hunt.

They needed 30, but fell short in the face of some inspired "death" bowling from Curran.

"We can be an emotional group at times, and I think we've made a conscious effort as a group to get the emotion out of it," Justin Mosca told AFP.

- 'Italia! Italia!' -

Mosca, who opens the batting with brother Anthony, both teachers from Sydney, said it felt surreal to be playing at a cathedral of cricket such as Eden Gardens, with Indian fans chanting "Italia! Italia!".

"There's some moments where you sit back and you just go, this is amazing," said Mosca after scoring an accomplished 43.

"This stage, the lights going and the 'Italia, Italia' chant coming up, it is amazing."

Grant Stewart, who pumped England for 45 off 23 balls and kept Italy in the hunt until he was out with 11 balls to go, agreed.

"We've played sub-regionals not that long ago, on Astroturf wickets in Rome," he told AFP.

"To be here at Eden Gardens and (Mumbai's) Wankhede stadium playing against teams like England, it's what dreams are made of."

None of the team were born in Italy and their participation at the T20 World Cup was questioned by some pundits.

Predictions they would be thrashed in every game grew after an opening 73-run defeat to fellow associate side Scotland.

They silenced the critics in some style with a 10-wicket drubbing of Nepal, courtesy of an unbroken 124 opening stand by the Mosca brothers.

"We got a little bit of pushback from media as well and people online saying that we're not good enough to be here," Manenti said.

"We were trying to win that game, chasing over 200.

"We're happy to get bowled out for a low score trying to win. We'll always risk losing to try and win a game of cricket.

"And I think we did that today (against England), and we should hold our heads high."

N.Fischer--NZN