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As if making a good impression with Andrew Flintoff’s Lions in Australia was not enough, Durham’s Emilio Gay has lined up an unusual route to further his England ambitions.
He intends to play against them at next year’s T20 World Cup – for Italy.
In one of cricket’s least likely developments, the Italians reached their first global tournament after emerging from July’s European qualifiers in the Hague, where a 19-ball half-century from Gay inspired them to a crucial win over Scotland.
And the Azzurri, who share their nickname with the nation’s more famous footballers, have now been drawn against Harry Brook’s side at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens on February 16. They will be planning an upset for the ages.
Gay’s mother’s family are from Montefalcione, near Naples, and ICC regulations say he can play for Italy – 28th in the world rankings – so long as he’s not named in an England Test squad.
Opening the batting in Test cricket remains his goal, but the chance to show off his wares on the global stage first is too good to resist.
Emilio Gay played for England's Lions during the warm-up match at Lilac Hill last week - now he's got his sights set on playing against them for Italy at the T20 World Cup next year
Gay was born in Bedford but his mother's family hail from near Naples
‘I’ve wanted to play for England since I was a young kid,’ he tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘But, of course, to go to the World Cup would be amazing. I rang (England selector) Luke Wright after we qualified, just to make sure everyone was OK with it, because there was a possibility I might be playing against England.’
Tuesday’s draw turned the possibility into a reality, which only an unlikely sequence of events will scupper. Still, Gay wouldn’t be human if he didn’t entertain the scenario.
‘I’m not going say I want to play in this Ashes series, like I should be playing ahead of anyone else,’ he says. ‘But don’t get me wrong: if it got to a stage where there was an injury before the fifth Test, and I got called up for whatever reason, I wouldn’t be complaining.’
In a further twist, 25-year-old Gay, whose prospects have gathered pace ever since he left Northamptonshire in 2024, will also face West Indies during the World Cup, which is being held in India and Sri Lanka at the start of next year.
His father’s family are from the Caribbean island of Grenada and, as Gay puts it, ‘I’ve got England, West Indies and Italy – all three of my heritage countries.’
Cricket in Italy has a longer history than many realise, with the game imported by the British in the 19th century. The name of Serie A team Genoa is still followed by CFC, which stands for ‘Cricket and Football Club’, while AC Milan was founded in 1899 by an English immigrant as ‘Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club’.
Not everyone approves. Last year, the mayor of Monfalcone in the north of the country banned local Bangladeshis from playing cricket because, she said, ‘they’ve given nothing to our community’.
Former Australia opener Joe Burns, who made four Test centuries before switching nations, is a key member of the Italy side that has qualified for their first ICC tournament
Italy's assistant coach Kevin O'Brien (left) will also be able to provide experience of beating England - his 50-ball century at the 2011 World Cup led Ireland to a famous victory in India
But the national team have assembled a useful squad, including their captain, the former Australia Test opener Joe Burns, whose grandfather was an Italian POW in North Africa, as well as Kent’s Grant Stewart and Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen.
Italy’s assistant coach, meanwhile, is Kevin O’Brien, who knows a thing or two about putting English noses out of joint: his 50-ball century for Ireland at Bangalore stunned Andrew Strauss’s team at the 2011 World Cup.
‘We’ve probably surprised a lot of people,’ says Gay. ‘But only those on the outside looking in. I don’t think we surprised ourselves. We’ve got a lot of experience and talent.
‘I saw what it meant to everyone after we qualified. Even the funding we will get now we’re through to the World Cup, and the differences in people’s jobs and lives - to be a part of that was amazing.’
A tall left-hander who has 10 first-class centuries and topped 1,000 red-ball runs in each of the past two summers, Gay intends to use what remains of the England Lions tour – this weekend’s pink-ball game against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, followed by a four-day match against Australia A in Brisbane – to impress the management and further his Test claim.
He top-scored with 78 in the Lions’ first innings against a Cricket Australia XI at Lilac Hill near Perth last week and – as ECB managing director Rob Key has noted – he has improved his game against spin after working with Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara over the summer.
The Bedford-born batsman joined Northamptonshire's academy as an Under-15 and spent five years in their first team before moving north - initially on loan - last season.
Gay’s Durham team-mate, the 6ft 7in opener Ben McKinney, may be ahead of him in the queue if England ever decide to drop Zak Crawley, but Gay sounds confident in his own game.
Gay joined the Northamptonshire academy at Under-15 level and made his first-class debut in 2019 before leaving in 2024
He initially signed for Durham on loan before making the switch permanent a year ago, and has 10 first-class centuries to his name
And he doesn’t even feel the need to sacrifice his strengths to fit in with the Bazballers.
‘I don’t want to go out there and try and play a way I’m not accustomed to,’ he says.
‘I still want to feel like I am a batter that absorbs pressure, bats long periods of time, can make good decisions and tries to build a long innings.
‘But I think England do look at how you score your runs as well. So it’s that balance for me, of trying to score runs, but also impressing at the same time – and I’m very much focused on trying to impress in Canberra and Brisbane.’
