A pizza chef who hopes to play for Italy in the T20 World Cup

ballervisions 2026年2月11日

“It’s all about the fingers” replied Crishan Kalugamage pointedly when asked about the similarities between bowling leg-spin and making pizzas.

Kalugamage moved from Sri Lanka to Lucca in Tuscany at the age of 15 and is one of five home-based players in Italy’s 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup.

A sporting child, Kalugamage made friends who competed in athletics and began playing legendary cricket near his adopted hometown. His natural talent in this game made him stand out and he was soon considered to play for Roma Cricket Club, one of the oldest in the country.

The 34-year-old is now one of many players in the Italian team who have made sacrifices to get to where they are today, playing in front of thousands of people at famous cricket grounds such as Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and Mumbai’s Wankhede. A global audience of millions watching at home.

Kalugamage’s career as a pizza maker often comes second to playing cricket. “I have lost many jobs,” he says angrily, “Sunday is a very busy day, many managers don’t care if you don’t work because you play cricket.”

“Crish is a very dangerous weapon,” Italy coach John Davison said in a phone call. “You can swing both sides and you’re going to be amazing, no one in the competition is going to face him.”

Davison knows his spin – he’s also known as ‘The Spin Whisperer’. He spent a decade and a half as a highly sought-after spin coach. Nathan Lyon called Davison “the best spin coach in the world” and has worked with him since his youth.

With his days of spinning dough behind him, it will be the quick googly of Kalugamage, rather than the sloppy Giuseppe, that plagues the batsmen of Group C (England, Scotland, Nepal and West Indies) to face.

‘Some of the Italian players have never set foot in the country’

No member of the 15th group was born in Italy and only a few are fluent in the language.

Several players hold Italian passports or are eligible because of a relative, and some people have suffered from the Italian Cricket Federation casting their net too wide rather than focusing on developing more home-grown players.

South African born and bred (six ODIs and 16 T20Is between 2017 and 2021) JJ Smuts will play for Italy during the tournament for his marriage but has never set foot in the country.

“People can have their opinion but we have a real unity,” said captain Wayne Madsen, speaking ahead of his team’s opening game against Scotland on Monday, which made his team applaud.

The 42-year-old South African batsman is club captain in Derbyshire and has extensive experience with clubs around the world. However, this group of players had a real impact on him.

“That heritage and the journey the boys have gone through to get here, there is a relationship that is difficult to explain without the feeling we get as a team,” said Madsen.

“It’s probably our biggest strength. Everyone has a story to tell about how they got to this position and everyone is different. Whether it’s guys who grew up in Italy or guys whose grandparents moved many years ago. We had really powerful conversations, it really bonded us.”

For Madsen and Davison, success on the field in this tournament is part of a wider strategy to build on the growing roots of cricket in Italy.

“We want to win games and we know and believe we can. If we can finish in the top eight, that will change the lives of many of our cricketers and put Italian cricket on the map,” said Madsen.

“I think for us, the main thing is to leave a legacy in Italy and a platform to develop the game in the country.”

75 friends and family v 33,000 Nepal fans

For some of the team, the prospect of playing in front of a large crowd will be a strange one. Davison reveals that the players had a training session inside Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium a few days ago and it was the first time that Pakistani-born and Italian-raised left-arm seamer Hassan Ali stepped inside a cricket ground of any kind.

The players have been working with Dr Andrew Hooton, Head of the School of Sport and Exercise at the University of Derby, to prepare. Hooton worked with Madsen and Micky Arthur at Derbyshire and Burton Albion Football Club.

“Some of the team don’t have the experience of playing in a big stadium, under the lights with a big crowd,” said Hooton, “One of the things I’ve been working with them on is being able to practice their skills and keep their base in this critical situation.

“We have done some work on ‘inclusion’. Like when you see Ronaldo before he takes a free-kick or a penalty, he closes his eyes and breathes the whole body. It allows concentration but also helps to monitor emotions and anxiety. It is physical and mental.”

Davison says the 33,000-seater Wankhede stadium in Mumbai has been sold out for their second match against Nepal.

“The ICC is giving us about 75 tickets for friends and family, which leaves a lot of fans to win, but we will be doing our best,”

“We have a platform to take cricket forward, to take it to the next level,” added Madsen. “We have players who will make that happen and we are dreaming big. We didn’t just come to collect numbers, we can stand for the sides.”

He sat next to his captain as he said these words, the pizza maker Kalugamage smiles and secretly snaps his fingers. The next part of the journey is about to begin.