With captain Shai Hope leading from the front, West Indies eased past Italy with a 42-run win to reach the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 stage unbeaten. Hope's 75 helped West Indies set a target of 166. Italy showed some promise but Shamar Joseph's maiden four-fer and Matthew Forde's three-fer bundled them out for 123 in 18 overs. Italy bow out of their maiden T20 World Cup with just one win, finishing above Nepal in Group C.
Hope scores 75 but Italy pacers keep target within reach
Italy skipper Harry Manenti won the toss and opted to bowl first. Ali Hasan struck with the first ball of his over, dismissing Brandon King. Hope did the bulk of scoring in the powerplay overs, exploiting the fielding restrictions. Shimron Hetmyer couldn't make an impact as JJ Smuts pulled off a stunning catch off Thomas Draca's bowling. After powerplay overs, West Indies were 48/2. In the eighth over, Hope reached his fifty from 28 balls. At the halfway stage, they were 76/2.
In the 13th over, Roston Chase at the creased came to an end. Ben Manenti dismissed him for a 25-ball 24. In his next over, Ben got the better of Rovman Powell as well. Crishan Kalugamage knocked Hope at the start of the slog overs. The opener hit four sixes and six fours in his 46-ball 75. Sherfane Rutherford pushed the scoring rate in the slog overs. In his next over, Kalugamage got the wicket of Jason Holder for a single-digit score. In the penultimate over, Grant Stewart conceded 19 runs including four fours. No boundaries were scored in the final over as Hasan finished well, restricting West Indies for 165/6.
Italy show some heart but fall well short
Anthony Mosca got the run chase off to a rocky start with Justin Mosca losing his wicket to Forde. But, Italy seemed to believe they can chase it down. In the third over, Anthony hit Akeal Hosein for a couple of sixes before departing for a 12-ball 19. Forde dismissed Syed Naqvi for a single-digit score as well. Italy were 37/3 after powerplay overs. Harry took the responsibility to attack hitting Holder for a six. But Harry and Smuts couldn't rotate the strike efficiently. Joseph was introduced into the attack and got the wicket of Harry. At the halfway stage, Italy were 61/4.
In the 12th over, an economical Gudakesh Motie got the reward for putting pressure on Italy batters. He dismissed Smuts for a 27-ball 24 in the 12th over. Ben tried to put some pressure and got Italy past 100 in the 15th over. In the same over, Joseph got the wicket of Stewart for a seven-ball 12. In the 16th over, King dropped Gian Meade's catch and got injured as well. Motie made a comeback after conceding a six. Ben lost his wicket for a 21-ball 26.
Forde returned to take another wicket, dismissing Meade. In the 18th over, Joseph dismissed Draca and Hasan to wrap up the proceedings. Italy were bowled out for 123. Joseph also created the T20 world record for taking four wickets and as many catches in a T20 innings.