Munsey, Leask usher Scotland to jumbo win over Italy

Italy suffered a dispiriting 73-run loss to Scotland in their first ever T20 World Cup fixture. More worryingly, they were without captain Wayne Madsen who left the field and did not take further part in the game after dislocating his left shoulder. The incident occurred in the fourth over of the game when Madsen fell in an ungainly manner while attempting a diving stop. Italy will eagerly await news on Madsen’s availability for the remainder of the tournament.

Harry Manenti | Italy vice-captain: “Yeah, Wayne obviously had a tough fall in that powerplay there and hit the deck and we believe dislocated his shoulder. So, obviously more to come with that and hopefully he’s alright. And, Wayne’s obviously our leader. He’s played for a long time and was so deserving to show the world his abilities. So that’s probably the sad thing for him personally and for us as a team, not to be able to see that shown on the world stage.

It was a fairly one-sided contest in the end. Italy showed signs of promise when JJ Smuts found the fence a few times in the PowerPlay but it was only when the Manenti brothers got together that they gathered any sort of steam. Both struck the ball well and while they were at the crease, it felt Italy were in with a shout. They fell close to each other, though, and that signalled the beginning of the end for Italy.

Scotland will be ecstatic with their bowling display. They held their nerve, stuck to their plans and held onto almost every catch that came their way. Michael Leask was the star of the show, bagging a four-wicket haul to go with his explosive 22* in 5 balls. Scotland may have anyway expected to win this game but with the matches coming up, this might just be the ideal confidence-booster for the associate member.

Richie Berrington | Scotland captain: “Yeah, obviously, really important for us to bounce back strong today and put in a strong performance. But yeah, just really pleased to get our first win of the tournament. I think in the end, it was a pretty comprehensive win, but we knew we were going to have to work really hard for it. And I think really important that we got over 200 in that first innings on what was a very good wicket. We’ve had a really good prep since we’ve been here. And the confidence is really high in the group. There’s a lot of positive energy around. And obviously a win today will help that as well. So as I say, we know we’re going to have to prepare well again this week for that game on Saturday.”

Brief Scores: Scotland 207/4 in 20 overs (George Munsey 84, Brandon McMullen 41; Ali Hasan 4-21) beat Italy 134 all-out in 16.4 overs (Ben Manenti 52, Harry Manenti 37; Michael Leask 4-17) by 73 runs