History was made at the Hague as Italy secured qualification for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. They lost to Netherlands but qualified for the marquee event next year. This will mark their first appearance at a cricket world cup. The Dutch also joined them after comfortably chasing 135.
Scotland, who featured in the last four editions of the T20 World Cup, have been knocked out after they suffered a last-ball defeat against Jersey earlier in the day. Despite pulling off a one-wicket heist, Jersey were also knocked out after the Dutch beat Italy. Both Italy and Jersey were level with five points each, but Italy progressed to the showpiece event by virtue of a superior net run-rate.
Italy qualifies for the World Cup despite losing to the Netherlands
Italy needed to avoid a heavy defeat against the Dutch which they did stretching their chase to 16.2 overs. They confirmed their place in next year’s T20 World Cup in the 15th over before Netherlands completed their job and joined Italy in the event.
Opting to bat first, Italy lost both their openers Justin Mosca and Emilio Gay within three overs before their captain Joe Burns fell for 22 in the 7th over reducing them to 41/3. Keeper-batter Marcus Campopiano also fell cheaply, as Italy were 46/4 in the 9th over. Ben Manenti then played really well with the lower order to help Italy post 134/7. Left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe was the pick of the bowlers for Netherlands, returning with 3/15 in 4 overs which included the important wicket of Joe Burns.
Manenti found support from Number 7 Grant Stewart (25 off 16) and Number 8 Anthony Mosca (13* off 14). Italy scored 33 off the last three overs, including 15 off the penultimate over bowled by all-rounder Bas de Leede.
Netherlands then came out of the blocks scoring 66 in the powerplay without losing wickets. Max O’Dowd and Michael Levitt extended their opening stand to 71 before Crishan Kalugamage struck in the 8th over as Levitt went for 34 off 25 balls laced which included five fours and a six. O’Dowd and captain Scott Edwards then put on an unbroken 64-run partnership for the second wicket to see Netherlands home.
Kalugamage finished with figures of 1/25 in 4 overs and though Harry Manenti went wicketless, he ended the Europe regional final as its top wicket-taker. Manenti took 8 wickets at an average of 9.62 and economy rate of 7.70 in 3 matches.
Jersey secures historic maiden win over Scotland despite not qualifying for World Cup
Jersey secured their first-ever win against Scotland. But their joy was premature as the result of the Italy-Netherlands game did not go their way as they wanted Italy to win that game. Chasing 134 for the win, Jersey were cruising at 81/1 in the 12th over. The wicket of Nick Greenwood triggered a massive collapse. Jersey lost 8 wickets for 48 runs and needed 5 runs off 4 balls all of a sudden.
Captain Charles Perchard and No.11 Jake Dunford picked off 2,1,1,1 to keep Jersey in the race for qualification before Netherlands and Italy qualified at their expense. Scotland also miss out on qualification for the first time after four editions.
What Lies Ahead
So far, 15 teams have qualified for the ICC World T20 2026 to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
They are: India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, USA, West Indies, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Canada, Italy and Netherlands. From hereon, three more sides will make it from the East-Asia Pacific qualifier, while two more teams will make it through from the Africa qualifier.
A total of 20 teams will participate in the mega event next year. It promises to be a riveting battle where India is set to defend its crown. No team has been able to defend the crown and no host nation has ever won the T20 World Cup before. Can India change history? Only time will tell.
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