{"id":571979,"date":"2026-05-07T23:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/571979\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T23:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:49:14","slug":"zak-crawleys-england-replacement-is-an-italy-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/571979\/","title":{"rendered":"Zak Crawley\u2019s England replacement is an Italy international"},"content":{"rendered":"

If, as many suspect, Emilio Gay makes his Test debut against New Zealand at Lord\u2019s next month it\u2019ll be a world away from his first taste of international cricket 18 months ago when he opened the batting for Italy against Tanzania in Uganda.<\/p>\n

Gay, who qualified for Italy through his maternal grandfather, bossed that ICC World Cup Challenge\u00a050-over\u00a0encounter at the Entebbe Cricket Oval, scoring an unbeaten 96 from 84 balls.<\/p>\n

Three more half-centuries in the tournament \u2013 against Hong Kong, Uganda and Singapore \u2013 followed. Another, in the Europe qualifier\u00a0for the T20 World Cup\u00a0eight months later, came against Scotland.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old did his part to help Italy reach this year\u2019s\u00a0T20\u00a0World Cup in India and Sri Lanka but missed the tournament with a hamstring injury sustained on England Lions duty in Australia last winter.<\/p>\n

\"NORTHAMPTON,Gay started at Northants before moving to Durham to catch the selectors\u2019 eye (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

For Gareth Berg, Gay\u2019s former Northamptonshire team-mate and the Italy coach who persuaded him to tap into his Mediterranean roots, the left-hander\u2019s current elevation to the brink of England Test selection is no surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried very hard for a couple of years to get him involved,\u201d he tells The i Paper. \u201cBut he always thought Italian cricket was rubbish. Eventually he realised we were pushing for World Cup status.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came in and absolutely bossed it. He walked away saying those few months he played for us was one of the highlights of his career so far. It opened his eyes and certainly showed he had to learn some things outside of county cricket in order to develop his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very clear in our first conversations about Italy \u2013 was it going to put his nose out of joint trying to make England? I had to reassure him on that front. But he also made it very clear the direction he wanted to move in was to play for England.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NORTHAMPTON,Gay could represent England, Italy or the West Indies if he chose \u2013 but wants England (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

Given Italy are not a full member of the International Cricket Council, Gay, whose father is from Grenada, is free to play for England \u2013 or the West Indies \u2013 immediately if selected.<\/p>\n

That first foray into international cricket came in the winter of 2024, when Gay also made the move from Northants to Durham, home of Test captain Ben Stokes, that has proved transformational for his England prospects.<\/p>\n

Now he is the frontrunner to replace Zak Crawley<\/a> at the top of the order following a fine start to the season in which he has scored 473 runs, including three centuries, at 94.60.<\/p>\n

Gay may currently be plying his trade in Division Two of the Championship \u2013 and batting at No 3 for Durham \u2013 \u00a0but his form follows a 2025 summer in which the opener scored four Division One centuries and 954 runs overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what he\u2019s always wanted,\u201d says Berg. \u201cI would liken him to Dawid Malan, who was probably in many people\u2019s eyes not the nicest guy but actually Dawy and myself are good mates. The reason I love Dawy is because of the hard work he\u2019d put in. Those years of grafting stood him in good stead to play for England. I see that trait in Emilio. It\u2019s exciting knowing that journey could potentially begin now for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to those who know him, a picture of a confident, hard-working and highly ambitious player begins to emerge. Berg says Gay \u201cworked his nuts off\u201d to break into the Northants first-team as a teenager in 2019. David Ripley, the head coach who gave him that chance, adds: \u201cIt was his appetite. He was phenomenal. He would just go and have his own nets. He would do a lot of running to give himself an extra edge. He was just very committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confidence has been key to his rise. \u201cEmilio\u2019s always got that air about him,\u201d says Berg. \u201cHe used to get a lot of stick from the opposition thinking he was arrogant. But there\u2019s a difference between arrogance and assurance. He has that belief in himself. That stands him in good stead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet his self-assuredness hasn\u2019t always gone down well. \u201cIt didn\u2019t all go smoothly,\u201d says Ripley. \u201cHe was very strong-willed and confident and that didn\u2019t always come out well with other players. His first year in particular I remember being quite a tricky one in terms of finding his place in the group. But he went off into the second team and credit to Emilio for how he adapted. He found his way. It was a big year in his development. He grew as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NORTHAMPTON,His confident style has sometimes rubbed opposition up the wrong way (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

For Ripley, there was never any doubt Gay would get to the top. \u201cHe said very early on he was going to play for England,\u201d he says.\u201cThat drive is probably his strongest asset. He has challenged himself, moved county to give himself, in his view, a bigger audience. I guess it helps Ben Stokes is up there. I\u2019m sure he would have thought about that. I\u2019m pleased to see him doing so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Italian and Caribbean heritage has also shaped him. \u201cHe\u2019s got his West Indian style, that sort of strut, loves being the man, talks a good game and that type of stuff,\u201d says Berg. \u201cAnd he\u2019s got the Italian side where he\u2019s big on his food and very passionate about things. You definitely see both aspects of his heritage easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like another left-handed opener in former England captain Sir Alastair Cook, Gay also went to Bedford School.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he plays for England he\u2019ll not just want to play he\u2019ll be wanting to chase down Sir Alastair\u2019s stats,\u201d says Ripley. \u201cHe\u2019ll be going in to become someone that could play 70 or 80 Tests I\u2019m sure. Why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

As for whether that opportunity will come later this month when England name their squad for the first Test against New Zealand, Berg says: \u201cAs a character I don\u2019t think there\u2019d be anyone better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If, as many suspect, Emilio Gay makes his Test debut against New Zealand at Lord\u2019s next month it\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,28022,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-571979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-sports-explainer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}