Scotland get revenge for loss to Italy – at cricket

Published on 20/03/2012 00:20

SCOTLAND’s demoralising and depressing defeat to Italy in the RBS Six Nations Championship left a cloud of gloom over the sporting landscape at the weekend.

While the football team has long known its place behind the Azzurri in the global hierarchy, a poor record against Italy with the oval ball is a matter that Scottish rugby supporters have always struggled to come to terms with.

It will not be an instant balm for bruised pride, nor will it re-write the record books which tell of regular ruin in Rome, but Scotland’s cricketers at least lived up to expectations yesterday when they put the pesky Italians in their place with bat and ball in a Twenty20 World Cup qualifying match in Dubai. A seven-wicket victory – a proper trouncing for the South-Central European upstarts – leaves the Scots poised to reach the play-offs if they beat the USA today.

An assured 67 from Richie Berrington completed the success with 12 balls to spare. Forza Scozia!