Northamptonshire County Club player Gareth Berg, who has represented Italy in International cricket events in 2013 and 2019, has been named as the new Head Coach for the men’s national squad by the Italian Cricket Federation. Berg, however, will be available as a player to represent the team as well, as he is also an active player in county cricket.
Berg will be having the services of Carl Sandri in the coaching set-up, who will be taking up the role of Senior High Performance Coach. Like Beg, Sandri has also represented Italy at International level in the past and has the experience of playing in Australia’s Big Bash League with Sydney Thunder.
Italy have a busy International schedule in 2021, with trips to Finland in July for European sub-regional qualifiers for Men’s T20 World Cup and Jersey in September for the 2nd round of ICC CWC Challenge League tournament. If the team wins their sub-regional tournament, then they will travel to Spain in October to take part in the European regional finals.
Berg has stated on the importance of tournaments like European Cricket League (ECL) events, which has promoted the club cricket in the country in a big manner, and while the national squad has a good mix of young and experienced players, he will also be looking for players across the globe holding Italian passports to represent the country in International tournaments. Guys like the Manenti brothers (Ben and Harry), who hold Italian passports have already announced that they are available to play for Italy, with Ben also having experience of playing in Big Bash League with Sydney Sixers.
The 39-year old Berg last represented Italy in the first round of CWC Challenge League tournament held in Oman in December 2019, and was the leading wicket-taker for the team with 11 scalps from 5 matches. He will be actively playing as a player as well in 2021, having committed to Northamptonshire as a player and will be juggling between his services to the club and Italy national squad.
