"In a basement office in the north of Rome, Riccardo Maggio is unpacking boxes of blue jerseys with Italia written on them. He sighs when the landline phone rings again, and then again. Maggio is on his own, multitasking in the headquarters of the Italian Cricket Federation, tucked away in the building that houses the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), the governing body for national sports. The room is small and improvised, its shelves cluttered with old trophies, faded photographs of players and souvenir cricket bats."
"I would call it an Italian miracle, Maggio said. He should know. Maggio, who is operations manager for the federation and a former national player, was born in Italy to Italian-British parents. He only discovered cricket during summers spent with his grandparents in England. I watched it on the television, and then started to play it in the park with friends, he said. Then I would return to Italy and play football and basketball those were the sports that were normal here. But I loved cricket."
In a small basement office in northern Rome, Riccardo Maggio prepares blue Italia jerseys while managing operations for the Italian Cricket Federation. The federation operates from an improvised room in the building that houses the Italian Olympic Committee, with shelves crowded with trophies, photos and bats. For the first time the men's national cricket team has qualified for the T20 World Cup co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India. Maggio was born in Italy to Italian-British parents and discovered cricket during summers with grandparents in England. He began playing in local Italian clubs after contacting the British embassy when national sporting bodies were dismissive.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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