England cricketer Jade Dernbach named in Italy T20 World Cup qualifiers squad

England cricketer Jade Dernbach, who has been playing for Surrey County Cricket Club, will soon return to international cricket. However, he wouldn’t be back in the England squad, instead will be seen playing for the Italian national men’s cricket team. He was recently named in Italy’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier next month. 

Dernbach represented England between 2011 and 2014. Since then, he has not found a way back into the white-ball national team. On top of that, the opportunities in white-ball cricket at his own club Surrey have dried up over the years. In the 2021 season itself, he was seen featuring for Derbyshire, on loan, in order to get some game-time. This also saw him announce that he would move ahead from the club at the end of this season. 

Captain-coach Gareth Berg persuaded Jade Dernbach to play for Italy

Dernbach’s mother is an Italian and he has an Italian passport which has made him qualify to play for the country. Apart from Dernbach, the Italian team also had Gareth Berg, who plays for Northamptonshire county cricket club, as a coach and captain. According to a report on ESPNcricinfo, Berg persuaded Dernbach to take this opportunity. 

Another player from county cricket, Grant Stewart has also been named in the squad of Italy for next month’s tournament. He is an Australian-born cricketer who recently was seen playing for Kent county cricket club, during their triumph of the T20 Blast last weekend. James Grassi, who plays for Leinster Lightning in Ireland’s domestic cricket, has also been called up for the Italian squad. 

Former England player Owais Shah, who is a good friend of Gareth Berg and has shared dressing rooms with him in county cricket, has been named as the assistant coach of this Italian team. Coming back to Dernbach, his last international came in March 2014. The 35-year-old has been a skillful bowler in the past and was also seen during the inaugural Hundred season. 

He played 24 ODIs picking up 31 wickets at 42.19. He also played 34 T20Is picking up 39 wickets at 26.15. Now, he will continue his international career with Italy and help them stand a chance to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. They will face Jersey, Germany, and Denmark from October 15-21 in Spain, with the top two teams progressing to the global qualifiers in early 2022.

Italy squad for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier: Gareth Berg (captain/head coach), Jade Dernbach, Madupa Fernando, Jamie Grassi, Grant Stewart, Darren Low, Dinidu Marage, Gian-Piero Meade, Joy Perera, Amir Sharif, Baljith Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Manpreet Singh, Nikolai Smith.