Italy gear up for the big day, the big stage and a big crowd

The people of Italy love their sport, but until this year, cricket never really got the spotlight. The locals confuse it too easily with croquet and baseball, one Italian says. Another tells the story of how it took until the coloured jerseys of the 1992 World Cup for Italians to realise batters and bowlers were not on the same team.

But they are finally sitting up to take notice. Italy's appearance at their maiden T20 World Cup will be broadcast on TV, there are three Italian journalists travelling with the team in India to capture the historic occasion, and football World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo has given them a shout-out.

The biggest stamp of approval is the half-page article in the newspapers previewing Italy's World Cup campaign - a rarity for the sport in a country where the back pages these days are reserved only for football, the Winter Olympics and Six Nations rugby.

Italy captain Wayne Madsen said the buzz was enjoyable for the boys, but the "realness" of the occasion hit the team on Saturday, when the T20 World Cup got underway. Now one day out from their first game, against Scotland, he backed the team's preparation - in Dubai and Chennai before the tournament - and the wins over Full Member Ireland and UAE have given them a confidence boost.

"If we play our best cricket and are in the mindset of playing brave cricket, then I think we can perform at this level," Madsen said in Kolkata. "The results, as we've seen, of this game, even in the first two days of the World Cup we've seen some Associate teams who have really pushed the Full Members."

The 42-year-old Madsen, who is also Derbyshire captain, said the mix of South Africans, Australians and South Asians bringing the best bits of their cricketing culture makes them an exciting team. While nerves are natural, he said, the experience of the Manenti brothers playing in the Big Bash League, JJ Smuts' experience with South Africa and other franchise competitions, and Madsen's own years in county cricket have helped the other members of the squad too.

"One thing we do well is we play as a unit, play as a team," Madsen said. "We've got some experience, guys have played in franchise tournaments. But equally, we've got young players who people wouldn't have seen. So a little bit of X-factor in that regard.

"We also view this as an opportunity to show off our skills, skills that have not been seen on the international stage before. We've got what we believe is a pretty good batting unit with a lot of experience. And we've got three really good spinners. Our seam attack as well. So we feel that we're well covered in terms of what we have."

Beyond the cricket, the team of players from around the world has been developing a culture of speaking Italian in the dressing room. Not everyone is benissimo (fluent), as Madsen and head coach John Davison quietly admit, but the effort shows the team's commitment to make this a special few weeks.

"The guys who have grown up in Italy speak Italian as their first language," Davison said. "And then you've got guys based elsewhere. Gian-Piero Meade is our unofficial translator if we're in a team meeting and the local boys don't understand some of the [words].

"My Italian's not good at all (smiles), but there are other guys who are developing it. Particularly the players who want to play long-term and really build the Italian culture, they're making an effort. Grant Stewart, for example, has a tutor who's teaching him the language."

As for what success means for Italy in the tournament, Madsen and Davison said they would want to ensure they keep returning. Only then would cricket in Italy become more mainstream. Addition to the Olympic roster has already given cricket a monetary boost across many countries, including Italy, and this is an opportune time.

Although few give Italy a chance to qualify beyond Group C, they believe they can do something special because they are motivated by Davison and assistant coach Kevin O'Brien's exploits at World Cups.

Davison had hit a 67-ball century against West Indies at the 2003 ODI World Cup, then the fastest ODI World Cup century. O'Brien then grabbed the World Cup record with a 50-ball hundred in Ireland's famous win over England in the 2011 edition. The stories shared by them have given players the belief.

"We had a chat last night and I reflected on my performance in my first World Cup," Davison said. "The big thing was having the belief to be able to do it.

"But the experience of myself and Kevin, I think it just shows people how tangible it is. We weren't world beaters, we weren't the most talented players going around but we somehow took our opportunity and I think it makes it more believable for the group."

"I can vouch for how powerful that was on the team," Madsen said. "Davo sharing his story and sort of opening up to us was pretty inspirational and powerful in the group and I think those sorts of things really helped to inspire us and believe in our skills."

Italy have never played a game in a crowd of more than 1000. On Monday, that will probably change. The spotlight they wanted is on them, as is the cricketing world's attention. It's time for a new chapter.