Italy: Trentino win a cup full of ice cream

Thanks to one of the most incredible one man shows in the history of Italian cricket, performed by Aamir Shah, Trentino lifted the Coppa Italia, the competition for Italian players only played under Cricket Max rules.

The final round robin saw the three group winners Trentino (north), Lazio (centre) and hosts Maremma (south) meet on the new Grosseto ground of Via Cimabue.

In the opener Lazio had no great problems against the hosts. Led by skipper Corbellari (56), the light blues scored 112 in the 1st innings, then restricting through great fielding Maremma to 78. Second time round, Lazio scored 108, keeping the Grosseto team down to 93 for a final score 210 - 171.

Trentino, on the other hand, fielded badly against Maremma, allowing the hosts to score 103. From this moment, however, the ice cream man from Grugliasco (and not Buttigliera as originally stated) started his show, scoring 63 and allowing the team from the Dolomites to reach 132, a lead of 29. Maremma's two italo - south africans, Riccardo Pieri and Warren Mazzoncini, batted well in the 2nd innings but the score of 93 left Trentino with a target of only 64, easily obtained without loss and through another Shah half century.

And so to Mayday morning with Lazio and Trentino playing what de facto had become an outright final. Lazio won the toss, decided to bat and did not start well: only 9 runs off the first two overs with Passaretti being too difensive, maybe due to his pair the day earlier against Maremma. The third over, bowled by Avancini, proved extremely exciting with Corbellari who had scored 24 off three deliveries holing out the last ball to Shah at long on. This brought the other Cape Town boy, Alessandro Bonora born near Genova, to the crease. The stylish right hander playing a dominating undefeated 73, proved that even in this form of cricket there is no substitute for class, allowing Lazio to reach an imposing 136

The first over of Trentino's reply, bowled by Sarnelli, will be difficult to forget. 4, 8, 12, 0, 6, 12: this the sequence produced by the piemontese "ice cream man" for a total of 42. Yet more drama occured when with the fourth ball of the second over Corbellari had Shah caught at the wicket by Passaretti. Suddenly, Trentino disappeared from the field and after the explosive first over only 61 runs were scored off the next nine for a final score of 103, 33 behind.

Trentino had already surprised everyone on April 16th coming back from a 41 run first innings deficit to beat Pianoro by 1 run. Now, could they do it again. Certainly, it did not look so after four overs of the Lazio 2nd innings, 50/0 meaning a lead of 83. Only one player out of the twentytwo on the field thought it differently. Moving like a Bengal tiger amongst team mates whose body language could only be described as depressing, Aamir Shah completely turned the game around, catching yet again Corbellari at long on, this time off Arif, getting rid off Bonora caught & bowled and then producing a hatrick against the three under 19 Lazio internationals Passaretti, Sarnelli and Gallo ! Lazio struggled in the end to bat through their innings closing at 67/8, a lead of 100.

All the same, if Shah had failed, the target would have been difficult against Lazio's tight fielding. The Rome team started by doing all it had to bar one thing: get rid of Shah ! Nevertheless, when Sarnelli ran 50 yards from long off to long on one foot in front of the Max Zone line to catch Arif diving one handed, it was anyone's game at 36/3 after four overs with the skies suddenly opening.

After a half hour break, Sarnelli'inspiration continued in the next over by bowling Lubich: 44/4 at the half innings stage. The next over bowled by Gallo to Shah, increasingly worried by the loss of partners, decided the outcome of the tournament. The second ball forced the left hander into a semi false stroke that flew low towards extra cover where Domini, realistically reacting late, only got to the ball on the half volley. The danger passed, the ice cream man found his composure hammering 31 off the remainder of the over and manouvering the strike so astutely to allow Luca Avancini, the founding father of Trentino, to hit the winning runs off the last ball of the 9th over, thus giving the club their first major trophy.