Italy's Cup competition reaches playoff stage

The final two rounds of Italy's European Incoming Services Cup preliminary phase were far more exciting than the previous four.

The Northern group saw in the end the two teams from Bologna go through but not without a hiccup. Bologna, firstly, caused a minor shock by beating the defending champion by one wicket in the return derby. A century by Italy's vice captain Valerio Zuppiroli was not enough to prevent Pianoro's first defeat in two years, ending a winning streak of 17. This result seemed to cut out Trentino from the play offs despite a 4 wicket win over a much improved Galatea. However, in the final round, whilst Pianoro easily defeated Galatea to guarantee itself home advantage throughout the play offs, Bologna went pretty near to pushing the self destruct button by forfeiting the game in Trento.

Automatic defeat by 200 runs to nil meant a 31 point cushion had been cut to 11. The question was how many points were going to be deducted to Bologna for unsporting conduct by the Federazione's magistrate? The maximum possible being 12 and with 11 enough to reverse the order of merit in Trentino's favour, Bologna managed to get away with an 8 point deduction, a fine of 300 $US and an equivalent compensation to pay to Trentino. In fairness, one must also praise Trentino's sportsmanship in deciding not to take the case to the Federazione's Appeal Court. Final table after the preliminary 6 rounds: Pianoro 105, Bologna 73, Trentino 70, Galatea 10.

The central group proved exciting till the last ball. Capannelle, in the end gained top spot, easily avenging the earlier defeat by Lazio with a convincing nine wicket win and then conquering by 8 wickets Murri Catania whose season after two wins went on the downhill. Staging a remarkable comeback, Maremma Grosseto gained the second play off berth topping 300 runs in the last two games. Firstly, the Tuscans went down to Catania and settled their account with Murri, who had earlier defeated them at home; finally, they trounced Lazio in Rome to reach the final four for the first time in their 13 year history. Final table after the preliminary 6 rounds: Capannelle 86, Maremma 81, Lazio 54, Murri 52.

These are the pairings for the knock-out matches:
Play-offs 1st to 4th place (best of 3): Pianoro - Maremma & Capannelle -Bologna
Play-offs 5th to 8th place (single match): Trentino - Murri & Lazio - Galatea