Kuala lumpur

Cricket World Cup Challenge League: Italy survived some heart-stopping moments as they snuck past Vanuatu by two wickets to claim the final place in the Cricket World Cup Challenge League structure, also keeping hopes of a 2027 World Cup spot alive. Italy captain/coach Gareth Berg saw his country home, driving Patrick Matautaava to complete the chase alongside No.10 Jaspreet Singh at UKM Oval in the tense match played on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital.

Having taken 1-13 (6) earlier in the day, Berg made a destiny-changing unbeaten 14 from 13 balls in the chase of 103, not only keeping World Cup 2027 hopes alive but also securing important funding through the Challenge League pathway. Upon securing their Challenge League privileges, the relieved captain/coach credited his group’s discipline, and the support from the rest of the Italian player pool who had pushed the squad to be at their best in Malaysia.

“It's a massive victory for us,” Berg said post-match. “I'm proud of our boys. We’ve stuck at it throughout the last three weeks. There's been no injuries, no incidents on the field. I’m very excited about the squad that we have at the moment and there are boys still sitting at home part of the high-performance group," he said. “We’ve got a great bunch of guys that we've looked after in terms of fitness, and that's another box tick for us, which is what we came to this tournament to do,” he was quoted as saying in a report by ICC.