{"id":40058,"date":"2024-12-31T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/emilio-gay-england-test-cricket-hopeful-on-selection-playing-for-italy-and-joining-durham-from-northamptonshire-cricket-news\/31\/12\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-12-31T11:00:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T16:00:08","slug":"emilio-gay-england-test-cricket-hopeful-on-selection-playing-for-italy-and-joining-durham-from-northamptonshire-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/emilio-gay-england-test-cricket-hopeful-on-selection-playing-for-italy-and-joining-durham-from-northamptonshire-cricket-news\/31\/12\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Emilio Gay: England Test cricket hopeful on selection, playing for Italy and joining Durham from Northamptonshire | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Could England’s next Test match batter be a current Italy international?<\/p>\n

Durham’s Emilio Gay certainly hopes so, with the left-hander looking to force his way into Ben Stokes’ red-ball side in 2025 and focusing on improving his white-ball game in order to do so.<\/p>\n

Bedford-born Gay qualifies for Italy through his mother and played in four 50-over games for the Azzurri in November, hitting half-centuries in each of them with a best of 96 against Tanzania.<\/p>\n

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\n Gay moved to Durham on loan in 2024 ahead of a permanent switch over the winter
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With Italy not an ICC Full Member nation, those appearances will not stand in the way of him representing his native England – and the top-order player is frustrated he has not done so already.<\/p>\n

Gay racked up 1,019 County Championship runs in 2024, notching 919 in 10 matches for Northamptonshire in Division Two and then a further 100 in two Division One fixtures for Durham, a side he initially joined on loan ahead of a permanent switch over the winter.<\/p>\n

The highlight was an innings of 261 for Northants against Middlesex.<\/p>\n

Yet when England needed an extra batter in New Zealand owing to Jamie Smith’s paternity leave, Gay was overlooked in favour of Jacob Bethell, a player with zero red-ball hundreds compared to Gay’s six and who had scored just 466 first-class runs this summer.<\/p>\n

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Emilio Gay’s first-class stats in 2024<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n