It was initially speculated for former Australian batter Joe Burns to have started playing for Italy. However, it is not Joe, but 24-year-old Thomas Jack Draca who will make it to the list.

It has been confirmed in a report that Thomas wants to feature in IPL 2025. He is placed at the 325thposition in the list of auctions. Interestingly, he has connection with Mumbai Indians (MI).

Earlier this year, Thomas made his T20I debut against Luxembourg where he took 8 wickets in four games averaging at 8.50.

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Agata went on to X to wish Virat Kohli a happy birthday. She shared a photo of herself wearing the jersey of Indian cricket team, and tagged Kohli captioning in ‘Happy birthday from a fan in Italy. All the best to you.’.

However, some of the fans found some issues with her message for no reason, and accused her of using the name of Virat Kohli to attract Indian fans.

@imVkohli, happy birthday from a fan in Italy. All the best to you 🇮🇳🏏 pic.twitter.com/wIk1UXO3eR

— Agata Isabella Centasso (@AgataCentasso) November 5, 2024

Agata was shockingly irritated with all the trolls and gave people an appropriate reply. She wrote hoe every time she posts about cricket, people always bring some sort of negativity which she does not understand the reason for.

Every time I post something about Virat Kohli or cricket, there’s always someone bringing negativity. I honestly don’t understand why. Namaste 🙏🏻

— Agata Isabella Centasso (@AgataCentasso) November 5, 2024

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European champions Italy, who have failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, regained some pride as they won 2-0 in the battle for top spot in Budapest against Hungary, securing a place in the semifinals of the tournament, reports Xinhua. Giacomo Raspadori and Federico Dimarco scored for the Azzurri.

Unlike Italy, both England and Germany will head to the World Cup in less than two months, but both are still struggling to find their best form. Germany’s home defeat to Hungary on Friday buried their hopes of advancing as they only took one win from the six group matches — a 5-2 victory over Italy in June.

The four-time World Cup winners looked on course for victory at Wembley Stadium after goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Havertz had put them 2-0 in front after 67 minutes.

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, who has been criticised for poor performances in recent club matches, has had full support from head coach Gareth Southgate and started for the Three Lions again, but his latest mistake may threaten his place in the team.

The 29-year-old centre-back lost the ball to Jamal Musiala, then brought down the teenager in the box to hand the visitors a penalty, which was converted by Gundogan.

Maguire then lost his position in midfield 15 minutes later and allowed Chelsea forward Havertz to curl in a superb effort from the edge of the area.

Facing a possible third successive defeat, England showed great resilience, scoring three goals in 12 minutes to turn the game around.

Luke Shaw pulled one back in the 71st minute before substitute Mason Mount hit the equalizer five minutes later. Harry Kane then converted a penalty awarded by VAR in the 83rd minute to finish the incredible comeback.

But it was not the end — Havertz pounced on a fumble by England goalkeeper Nick Pope to equalise in the 87th minute. Bukayo Saka could have killed the match in stoppage time but his close-range attempt was saved by Germany keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

“A couple of errors have cost us the goals,” Southgate said. “But I’ll focus on the fact they played with tremendous spirit and showed a belief that we haven’t shown in the last few games.”

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The news of Francesco Totti having an affair with Noemi Bocchi broke out in February this year which created a lot of rift in the player’s marriage with Ilary Blasi. However, now the AS Roma legend has said that it was Ilary Blasi who cheated on him first. Both met each other in 2002 and got married later in June 2005 at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

“It’s not true that I was the first to betray. I said I wasn’t going to talk and I didn’t, but I’ve read too many hoaxes in the last few weeks. Some of them have even made my children suffer. “In September last year, rumours began to reach me: ‘Look, Ilary has someone else’. Indeed, more than one. I had never done it in 20 years, nor had she ever done it with me. But when I received warnings from different people, whom I trust, I became suspicious,” Francesco Totti said in an interview with Marca.

He added, “I looked at her mobile phone. And I saw that there was a third person, who was acting as an intermediary between Ilary and another one. Something like: ‘See you at the hotel. There have been rumours in the past, regarding both her and me. But they were really rumours. Here was the evidence. The facts. And that led to depression.”

“I couldn’t sleep anymore. I pretended nothing was wrong, but I was no longer me, I was someone else. I got out of it thanks to Naomi. We used to hang out as friends. Then, after the New Year, it became a story. Ilary dated other men before my story with Naomi was born,” the player concluded.

Francesco Totti played 785 matches for AS Roma during his long club career and scored 307 goals and 186 assists.

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Michael di Venuto played 9 ODIs for Australia  after they decided to use separate sides for Tests and ODIs in 1997. He was good enough to be named Man of the Match for his 89 against South Africa at Johannesburg.

Di Venuto played for Sussex, Derbyshire, and Durham in England and for Tasmania back home. While still playing for Durham, di Venuto actually played for Italy  in the 2012 World T20 Qualifier. He coached Australia when Darren Lehmann fell ill in 2016, and later coached Surrey and Nepal.

Michael’s elder brother Peter di Venuto had played for Italy a decade before Michael. Peter had played for Tasmania Under-19s and Tasmania Second XI, but not quite to the First-Class level.

Mike Veletta played 8 Tests and 20 ODIs, but will be remembered mostly for the 1987 World Cup final and a magnificent moustache. He walked out at 168 for 4 and hit everyone around, smashing 45 in 31 balls. To give an idea of how crucial the innings was, Australia’s 7-run margin still remains the narrowest in a World Cup final.

It is difficult to imagine Phillip Hughes as part Italian, but his mother Virginia indeed was of Italian origin. In addition, Hughes had a dual passport.

Of course, Ted Dexter needs little introduction. A Test career amounting to 4,502 runs at 48 and 66 wickets at 35 tells the story. One of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball, Dexter also led Sussex and England with distinction. He was born in Milan, and remains the only Test cricketer born in Italy.

But none of them, even Dexter, tops the list of cricket’s Italian connections. A Genoa-born called Emanuel Danero Neich was one of the first Italians to migrate to Australia (he left in 1826). He fathered 24 children from two marriages (and a 25th outside them, with Mary Cupitt).

This 25th child (not chronologically) was a daughter, Sophia Neich. Sophia married one William Whatman. Their sixth child Emily married a man called George. Emily and George’s son went by the somewhat famous name of Don Bradman.

Footnote: Writing for FourFourTwo, Tim Ellis mentioned an anecdote about Christian Vieri that must be mentioned here. Vieri idolised Allan Border and swapped shirts with the latter at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He was even under the impression that he was an ordinary football, and preferred cricket more…

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An Italian city has banned cricket in parks after a two-year-old boy was struck by a ball while he was on the balcony of his home, dealing a blow to the cricket-loving Afghan and Pakistani migrants there, media reports said. The mayor of Bolzano in northern Italy banned the game in the city’s parks after the ball struck the boy in the head, BBC reported. The boy, who was on the balcony of his home overlooking a park, recovered from the concussion. He was about 100 metres away from the cricket game. Bolzano is now restricting cricket to tennis courts and a baseball field.

Mayor Renzo Caramaschi said the ban was prompted by an email he had received from the boy’s parents about the cricket ball having hit their son. Italy’s small Afghan and Pakistani migrant communities are keen on cricket, but very few Italians play it. “We will soon make an assessment with representatives of the Pakistani community,” Caramaschi was quoted as saying. Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily reported that Brescia, another northern Italian city, banned cricket in public spaces in 2009.

Bolzano is in the mainly German-speaking Alto Adige region, called South Tyrol by German speakers, which has a mountainous border with Austria.

In October 2015, the regional Alto Adige website reported that Bolzano was home to 900 Pakistanis, with another 3,000 in the whole region. The figures for Afghans were 100 and 300, respectively.

Cricket has seen its side of hardships when cricketers have been hit by bouncers on field. No one can forget Phillip Hughes incident. Similarly, David Warner was hit during a practice match ahead of the Bangladesh series. However, he recovered and was declared fit to play the Test series.

(Inputs from PTI)

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