The off season story of Italian cricket saying that the only way Brera Milan could lose the Italian Cup was by not turning up at the ground proved shortlived when the odds on favorites suffered a dramatic 7 run defeat in the preliminary round at Bologna.

The entrance of Brera on the domestic scene, bringing the number of clubs back to ten for the first time since 1997 and Milan back to the fore after a ten year break, was dramatic to say the least. Media tycoon Alessandro Aleotti founded Brera Cricket & Football Club in July 2000 immediately buying the rights to play soccer in the fourth division and cricket in the only one.

There followed a spree on the market without precedent in the story of Continental cricket. Half of the Trentino team that had done so well in 2000, winning the Cup and losing the Championship to Capannelle in the final, were lured away from the Dolomites. Two names above all featured in Aleotti's portfolio: Kamal Kariyawasam, the legendary wicket - keeper captain of Italy, and the one and only Aamir Shah, the Grugliasco ice cream man, who had won the Italian Cup for Trentino defeating Lazio single handed on May Day 2000. When in March Andrea Pezzi, the man who skippered Italy to its first ICC Trophy and Pianoro to four consecutive pennants, decided that the 150 mile weekend journey from Milan, where he works, to Pianoro was getting a bit too long, one could see no stopping to Brera's domination of the all-Italian domestic competition.

With the rules reverting this year from Cricket Max to the original 30 overs per innings formula, Bologna's 136, built around 16 year old left hander Benjamin Dioli's patient 60, looked all but safe. At 98/3 after 19 overs, Brera were cruising. At 120/5 after 24 they could only commit suicide. But then the Icecream man went and dessert suddenly turned sour for the Lombards, all out in the last over for 130.

In the quarter finals on April 8th Bologna subsequently made mince meat of Trentino, the defending Cup holders being skittled out for 67 after Bologna had built an unassailable 199 around 89 by 17 year - old skipper Kelum Perera.

Maremma vs Pianoro in Grosseto, the match that, according to most, should have decided the outcome of the competition, was reduced to 23 overs by rain. The home team scored 114 thanks to an undefeated 37 by Lorenzo Biadi but Italy's golden boy Valerio Zuppiroli with 57 not out saw Professor Parisi's boys home with 2 overs and 6 wickets to spare. Capannelle hosted Roma in a derby in which, chasing a meagre 105, they made life difficult for themselves scrambling home in the end by only 2 wickets whilst half a mile up the Appian way, Lazio, under South African Genoese Alex Bonora, cantered to a 9 wicket win against Murri, who had gained access to the last eight by easily disposing of city rivals Galatea in the Catania derby.

The Italian Cup finals are scheduled in Grosseto on October 6 & 7. After Easter, the season enters into the crunch phase with the start of the 2001 EIS Cup.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd