Italy Announce 15-Member Squad Featuring JJ Smuts for Their First-Ever T20 World Cup

Wayne Madsen is appointed to lead Italy in their first-ever World Cup, which will take place in India and Sri Lanka in the year 2026, in the T20 format. There are also former South African international JJ Smuts and two brothers, Harry Manenti and Benjamin Manenti, and Anthony Mosca and Justin Mosca, in the 15-man team.

Wayne Madsen to captain Italy in their first T20 World Cup, with JJ Smuts in the squad

Italy had a captain in Joe Burns, a former Australian international player, but he was removed from the position and the squad towards the end of last year. It qualified for the competition by coming second in the Europe Regional Qualifier behind the Netherlands in July of last year.

Italy’s coaching team includes head coach John Davison and his two deputies, Kevin O’Brien and Dougie Brown. Italy will play in Group C for the 2026 T20 World Cup, featuring matches against Bangladesh, England, Nepal, and the West Indies. Their first match is against Bangladesh in Kolkata on Feb 9, then travel to Mumbai for the Nepal match on Feb 12, and return to Kolkata for their game against England on Feb 16 and the West Indies on Feb 19.

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Italy have announced squad for their first ever T20 World Cup! 🇮🇹

Massive news is that there’s no Emilio Gay. That’s a big dent for them, probably even bigger than Joe Burns omission. 👀

As announced, Wayne Madsen will captain the Azzurri in the tournament.#Cricket pic.twitter.com/ikfzz4qRwl

— Clink (@ClinkWrites) January 17, 2026

The T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka will kick off on February 7 and continue until March 8. The competition features 20 nations divided into four groups of five nations each in the first phase, where the top two from each group proceed to the Super Eight stage. The eight nations will then be divided into two groups of four in this phase, where the top two proceed to the semi-finals.

T20 World Cup: Italy squad

Zain Ali, Marcus Campopiano (wk), Ali Hasan, Crishan Kalugamage, Wayne Madsen (capt), Harry Manenti, Gian Piero Meade, Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, Syed Naqvi, Benjamin Manenti, Jaspreet Singh, JJ Smuts, Grant Stewart, Thomas Draca