T20 World Cup debutants Italy had a bruising introduction to cricket\u2019s biggest stage as they suffered a crushing 73-run loss to Scotland on Monday in Kolkata.<\/p>\n
Scotland piled up 207-4 with opener George Munsey top-scoring with 84 and in reply, Italy were bowled out for 134 in 16.4 overs.<\/p>\n
Off-spinner Michael Leask took 4-17 for Scotland, adding to his batting cameo of an unbeaten 22 off five balls.<\/p>\n
A nation better known for its football, Italy are the lowest-ranked side in the 20-team tournament and were making a slice of history here.<\/p>\n
Chasing a mammoth 208 for victory, they suffered early blows before a valiant fourth-wicket partnership of 73 between Australia-born brothers Ben and Harry Manenti kept them afloat at Eden Gardens.<\/p>\n
But Harry departed for 37 and Ben got out after his 31-ball 52 as the Italian batting collapsed from 113-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we\u2019ll sit down at some stage and reflect on that little partnership that we had and it would have been nice to contribute to a win there,\u201d said vice-captain Harry.<\/p>\n
He called playing with his brother \u201cspecial\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously growing up and playing backyard cricket with him, batting together, and as young kids then dreaming of being at a World Cup batting together and we\u2019ve got to live that out today.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Africa-born captain Wayne Madsen could not bat after he dislocated his shoulder while fielding and might miss the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Scotland skipper Richie Berrington said it was vital for them to bounce back after losing their opening match of the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally pleased to get our first win. In the end it was a comprehensive win, but we had to work hard for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Scotland originally failed to qualify for the World Cup but with only two weeks to go, they replaced Bangladesh, who were kicked out after they refused to play in India.<\/p>\n
Madsen heartbreak
\nItaly won the toss and bowled in the Group C encounter, where there were a few Italian fans decked out in the country\u2019s blue.<\/p>\n
Scotland rode on a 126-run opening stand between Munsey and Michael Jones, who hit 37, to post the highest total in the tournament so far.<\/p>\n
Brandon McMullen with an unbeaten 18-ball 41 and Leask, who hit two fours and two sixes in the last five balls, took Scotland to their best T20 World Cup total.<\/p>\n
The left-handed Munsey started briskly with a flurry of fours to unsettle Italy\u2019s attack in the first six overs of the powerplay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
T20 World Cup debutants Italy had a bruising introduction to cricket\u2019s biggest stage as they suffered a crushing 73-run loss to Scotland on Monday in Kolkata. Scotland piled up 207-4 with opener George Munsey top-scoring with 84 and in reply, Italy were bowled out for 134 in 16.4 overs. Off-spinner Michael Leask took 4-17 for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15875,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15873\/revisions\/15875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}