Italian season commences with new infrastructure
Tony Munro - 21 April 1999

1999 will be a season of many truths for Italian cricket. Whilst the national side will have to confirm that the events of last summer were not just a flash in the pan, the domestic environment will have to continue the painful development process finalised to match Italy's infrastructures with that of the better Associate members of ICC.

Eight clubs will participate in the official Federazione's program. The Championship, played in classic 50 over ICC rules, will see Pianoro defend the title they won for the last three years mainly from the assault of local rivals Bologna. The teams are divided into two round robins of four on geographic criteria. After the initial six games, the top two in each group proceed to semifinals and final in typical play off fashion, best of three games, the team with the better placement in the preliminary phase holding home advantage for the eventual decider. A maximum of four foreigners per game is allowed, however one must come from the ECC. Foreigners can only bowl 25 overs, 20 if the wicket keeper is a foreigner, and can only bat together when all the Italians are out ! Howzthat for development.

The Cup is similar in structure but completely different in format being played under the original (1997) Cricket Max rules. The round robin's are only of three games followed by a final four in Grosseto opposite the island of Elba where the City Council has built an exclusive purpose cricket ground. Only Italian players are allowed to take part in the Cup.

The push towards development of Italian cricket is clearly highlighted by the indigenously orientated rules. This obviously means two things. The restriction in the number of overseas players lowered initially the standard. Now, however, only players of near to first class status play as semi - pros in the league, leaving the others of not such a high standard to play social cricket.

The only rival standing in the way of Pianoro's fifth title in six years is Pianoro itself. The club from the Bolognese hills has probably set its main target in performing as well as possible in the European Clubs Cup competition taking place in Limavady (Northern Ireland) from June 20th to 27th and may pay the toll of this competition in the play-offs, scheduled in July. With their three ICC-qualified Sri Lankans (Samantha De Mel, Hemantha Jayasena & Nirosha Ramanayake) all first class cricketers in their teens plus the best Italians in the country starting with national team 25 year old vice - captain Valerio Zuppiroli , there appears to be no stopping Pianoro.

Bologna has strengthened its roster with Akhlaq Qureshi, the man who practically took Italy single handed to Associate status, but their Italian department looks very thin in quality. Lazio on the contrary are expected to field no less than 8 under 18s in their XI: clearly the team of the future but foreign talent will be needed to challenge. Capannelle, the other Roman team, looks to have the best blend after Pianoro. However, once they find the Champions in their path, as has happened over the last two seasons, there appears to be a huge gap between the finished copy and the indifferent replica.

The two new comer clubs from Catania (Sicily), Murri & Galatea, will be mostly looking to consolidate as will be Maremma Grosseto, the surprise Cup winners of last season. This leaves us with Trentino, the real dark horses of the bunch. Due to the disbanding of the two Lombard clubs, Bergamo & Como, Trentino are now the only competitive club in the North of Italy. This means an array of talent and a dramatic fight for places under national team skipper Kamal Kariyawasam. However, the team is formed more by great names of the past rather than youthful and hungry performers and looks more likely to produce the odd unexpected result rather than have the consistency for a great run."