London, July 12: The final day of the Europe Qualifiers for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was a roller-coaster ride with all four sides in with a chance heading into the last two matches. Eventually both the Netherlands and Italy confirmed their presence for the marquee event.For Italy, it’ll be their first ever qualification for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
After being restricted for 134/7, Italy needed to hold Netherlands for at least 15 overs in order to qualify.
Michael Levitt and Max O’Dowd got the hosts off to a flier in the Powerplay that took the momentum away from Italy early on but the visitors made sure to stretch the match till the 17th over to help themselves book a berth to India and Sri Lanka next year.
In the first innings, the experienced Roelof van der Merwe helped Netherlands restrict Italy to a moderate total picking three wickets and giving away just 15 runs in his four overs.
Italy kept losing wickets in regular intervals and couldn’t stitch together a partnership to sustain the innings as Kyle Klein’s spell aided by van der Merwe’s tight bowling didn’t allow the visitors to score easily.
A steady knock by Benjamin Manenti and a late blitz by Grant Stewarts pushed Italy to a total of 134/7 in their 20 overs, which Netherlands eventually chased down comfortably, but it was enough for Italy to qualify for their first-ever World Cup tournament.