T20 World Cup: England vs Italy – Preview, how to watch, team news and prediction
The lowdown on England vs Italy at the T20 World Cup
After beating Nepal and Scotland either side of a defeat to West Indies at the T20 World Cup, England’s showdown with Italy on Monday resembles a must-win for both sides.
England will likely go out on net run-rate if they lose, while Italy can guarantee going through by winning and then defeating West Indies.
“We haven’t played our best cricket yet but we’re in a strong position,” said England captain Harry Brook, via ESPN.
“World Cups aren’t always smooth sailing. We’d rather not start amazing and finish amazing than start amazing and finish bad.”
Brook called Tom Banton “awesome” after his unbeaten 63 in the nervy win with 10 balls remaining over Scotland.
“I’m just glad we got over the line,” admitted Brook. “We haven’t quite had that perfect game yet. They’ve all been a little bit niggly so far.
“Hopefully we can have an easier game against Italy and play our best cricket that everybody knows and loves. We can put some smiles on some faces back home and get through the group stage.”
Italy lost to Scotland by 73 runs but secured a first-ever finals win on their tournament debut with a 10-wicket victory over Nepal in their second match.
“We’re outsiders every time we play, no matter who we play against – whether it’s Nepal or Scotland or England or West Indies,” reasoned stand-in captain Harry Manenti.
“We’ll always be the outsiders, which we thrive on and we love. If we’re timid against the big boys, then we’re no chance.
“We have to really try and take it to them. We took some learnings from the way Nepal played against England.
“They took the game to them and you saw it’s really interesting to watch, actually: when you put the favourite team under pressure, they tend to not play as well.”
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England vs Italy team news
England are likely to name an unchanged team again, while skipper Wayne Madsen remains out for Italy with a shoulder dislocation.
England vs Italy predicted line ups
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
Italy: Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, JJ Smuts, Harry Manenti (c), Ben Manenti, Marcus Campopiano, Grant Stewart, Gian-Piero Meade (wk), Jaspreet Singh, Crishan Kalugamage, Ali Hasan
How to watch England vs Italy: TV channel, live online stream
England versus Scotland starts at 09:30 GMT on Monday. The T20 World Cup will be shown exclusively live in the UK on Sky Sports.
You can stream it on a vast variety of devices and on the move via the Sky Go app.
For coverage elsewhere in the world, click HERE for details of your local rights holder.
England vs Italy: T20 World Cup prediction
England should win handsomely but expect a fearless Italy side to provide reminders of the way they breezed past Nepal.
Brothers Justin and Anthony Mosca have shown they are capable of causing considerable problems but England’s batting depth through the likes of Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell and bowling attack – including Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid – are formidable.