Italy score, Australia assist: How expats from Down Under returned to their roots and fuelled cricket's revival in the football-obsessed nation

Indian Express

18-07-2025

Harry Manenti in many ways defines what Italy's cricket is all about.
Man of the Series in the tournament that sealed Azzurri's qualification to the T20 World Cup to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka next February-March, Manenti's family has Italian roots. His father played professional rugby for Benetton in Brescia at the foot of the Alps and, growing up in Sydney, cricket remained a part of their household. Apart from weekend games with the large Italian community in the bustling city, his elder brother Benjamin has been a regular in Australia's first-class system. Yet, playing in the World Cup still looked like a dream too far until a phone call arrived four years ago.
It all started with Benjamin applying for a European passport and looking for avenues to play cricket in the UK. 'Our father had shown us the route, and when Ben was looking for opportunities, he had also enrolled for the Big Bash. With his name circling, the Italy federation saw the last name and reached out asking if he was available to play for them. Then he told them about me and all of a sudden, I was playing in Italy with Ben joining a year later,' Manenti tells The Indian Express.
The Manentis, like over a million others in Australia with Italian roots, have long shared a common dream — to keep cricket around them at all times.
Harry and Benjamin's parents, like many others, migrated to Australia at the end of World War II in search of better opportunities. Cricket, which had been a prominent sport back in Italy before the War, was too hard to let go of. Down Under with facilities that are second to none, they went about building a strong base, establishing clubs in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide which have players only of Italian origin. The Manentis are part of this sound eco-system where their weekends would be spent with the community and beyond.
Italy captain Joe Burns, who once wore the famous Australian Baggy Green before becoming an Azzurri in 2024, posted an emotional message after qualification, that read: 'This triumph is more than cricket'.
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Most things about Italian cricket are fascinating.
It's a sport that's completely banned in the northern town of Monfalcone because it caused significant disturbance to the locals. And that wasn't the first time the sport was banned in Italy.
Cricket, which was first played in Italy in 1890, was once on an equal footing with football when the English moved to their shores. In fact, Genoa, the Serie A football club, started as a cricket club. So did the European powerhouse AC Milan, which has retained its English name as against the Italian Milano.
Clubs would then spring up in Turin as well, with cricket being played in the summer before football became the sport for the winter months. 'When Italy was unified in 1870, the English had helped a lot,' Simone Gambino, the honorary president of the Italian Cricket Federation (ICF) says. 'In the three cities – Genoa, Milan and Turin, which we call the industrial triangle, there were a lot of English. They brought cricket here, similar to what they did in India. These cities still go by the English name because of their influence. For 20 years till World War II, cricket and football lived together in these English clubs. It just disappeared after fascism set in,' Gambino says.
According to Gambino, in the World War era, cricket only continued in Rome's religious colleges run by the English and Scots. The scene would continue till the end of WW II, when the English started to arrive back in Italy.
'Post War, they re-sent a lot of people and particularly in Rome, there was a flood of cricketing activities through the religious institutes and priests. There is a team of the Vatican these days called St. Peter's Cricket Club. And it's the Pope's team, it's the team of the Vatican. It is nearly entirely composed of Indian and Sri Lankan priests,' Gambino says.
Having learnt the sport from his American grandfather while growing up in London, Gambino says when he arrived in Italy in the late 1970s as a teenager, many Italian expats played cricket. With quality being poor, Gambino admits it never flourished and by the mid-90s, the arrival of the Asian population saw a complete takeover. But what Gambino and ICF didn't realise was that indigenous Italians who moved elsewhere after World War II didn't abandon cricket.
Gambino, who doesn't forget to remind that Ted Dexter and Daniel Vettori were of Italian heritage, reveals that a majority of Italians who moved to England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand post World War II kept cricket within their grasp.
'In Melbourne's JICA league, there is a team called Rosebank made up of only Italians which has been winning the title for the last 10 years. The whole focus of the last 20 years of ICC policy has been on development and spreading the game. And a lot of money has been spent on this. But unfortunately, you cannot spread the culture quickly. Culture needs time. Football is popular all over the world. A lot of money was spent about 10 years ago to get football going in India, but it doesn't work. A lot of Italians kept the cricket culture going wherever they settled,' says Gambino was ICF chair from 1986 to 2016 before taking up the honorary role.
While the arrival of thousands of expats from the Indian sub-continent has kept club-level cricket flourishing in Italy, what is also undeniable is that the local population hasn't taken up the game as much as those of the previous generations.
Gambino, while mentioning the reason for Monfalcone banning cricket, explains the game in Italy in a nutshell. 'In Monfalcone, obviously there is some racism by the Italians against the Bengalis. But it also must be said that the Bengalis are using cricket as a device to do their own thing. When I was the chairman, we offered the Bengali community to play on a beautiful grass baseball ground, but they weren't interested. The people who have been forbidden from playing cricket in Monfalcone are not clubs or teams, but a bunch of people who just want to go out and bat and bowl at random places in the streets. We want to introduce the sport in schools. It shouldn't be seen as a sub-continent sport played by expats. It is a sport for everyone, including the Italians,' Gambino says.
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Peter Di Venuto can well be called as Italy cricket's flagbearer in Australia. While his brother, Michael, played nine ODIs for Australia before switching to Italy in 2012, Peter turned out for Italy apart from playing club-level cricket in Tasmania, where he now resides.
After gaining T20I status in 2019, Peter has played a big role in uniting the Italian community in Australia in terms of exploring the option of turning out for Azzurri. It was Peter who had reached out to the Manentis with the idea of playing for Italy.
'There are a lot of them who are interested. We could have had Spencer Johnson playing for us, but he got picked in franchise cricket and he turned out for Australia soon after. Now, we're establishing academies in Australia for Italian citizens, dual citizens for boys and girls to be able to support the national team in Italy as we progress towards the Olympics,' he says.
Di Venuto adds: 'So in terms of a strategy, it's very much part of our strategy to engage with Italians all over the world. It doesn't just exist in Italy. You have got a huge settlement here and players who have access to the best facilities and some even feature in domestic tournaments. If they believe it is not logical to get into the Australian team, they have Italy as an option. There are many in South Africa as well, who are showing interest. The qualification has improved the profile of the team and a lot of them want to get involved already.'
Cricket finding its way into the Olympics has already given a much-needed boost to the sport in Italy. According to Di Venuto, players are now tested every 12 months by the Italian National Olympic Committee and a database has already been put in place.
Like Gambino, Di Venuto admits the interest among the locals has dwindled. 'The school programme started two years back, so we have to see how it goes. In the meantime, we thought about how we keep improving and in Australia, we had a good system in place already,' he says. 'A lot of us have grown up playing the game here and have a skill set that we all feel should be empowered to do something back to honour our heritage and roots back in Italy. And that part has been the motivation of this team. People moving out of India and Pakistan take cricket with them. We are no different. We took cricket with us from Italy and continued it here,' De Veuto adds.
Manenti, meanwhile, is already dreaming about the T20 World Cup. The tournament might still be six months away, but the all-rounder is already manifesting the idea of playing in front of packed crowds.
'I want India or Australia in our pool. Growing up in Australia, supporting the Australian cricket team is something that I've always dreamt of. But to then play them in a World Cup would be amazing,' he says. 'Also playing India in a World Cup in India would probably just about be the most incredible thing that you can do in any sport in the world, I would think. So I don't mind where we play, when India is playing at home, irrespective of the venue, it will be packed.'