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Two TV presenters in Italy have
written a drama inspired by cricket
White on blue
Sport has not always transferred well to
the small screen. Let’s hope SportCrime
proves more Outside Edge than
Footballers’ Wives, writes James CoyneTwo cricket tragics in Italy are trying to
change that. Luca Tramontin is a former
professional rugby player; Daniela Scalia
has played most sports under the Italian
sun, represented the Azzurri in cricket
and Gaelic football, and has built a net in
her back garden. Together they present a
sports show for SportItalia TV.
They believe their TV drama,
SportCrime, is the first in the world entirely
about sport. The series – which touches
on politics, drugs and other ‘sports news’
controversies – has an investigative
department called ‘Seams Agency’ and an
episode entirely based on cricket.
“Cricket works well on screen because
it’s cerebral,” says Tramontin. “You can
document how the ball moves through
the air, how it spins... it warrants that
scientific attention.
“We chose cricket partly for strategic
reasons: it is the second-biggest sport in
the world, and India is into it. But it is hard
to persuade TV producers. One askedme about the playing numbers in Italy. He
scoffed at the figure, so I asked him: ‘How
many Italian F1 drivers are there?’ The
answer was one. On that basis Italian TV
shouldn’t bother showing F1!”
Tramontin first encountered cricket
when the first wave of Aussies and Kiwis
came over to help improve Italian rugby.
“I was 12. Someone was messing around
with a cricket ball down at my local club.
I had a bit of a go. Then, in 1989, I went to
Australia to play rugby. Australia had just
won the World Cup and the Ashes under
Allan Border, and they were coming out
of the doldrums. Cricket cropped up in
discussion everywhere I went.”
“I caught my second wave through
Conan Doyle, Wodehouse and other
English curios. Test cricket is like my
literature and T20 my comic book. I
must have read Simon Hughes’ And
God Created Cricket five times. My wife
told me to stop reading it after a while.
I thought Marcus Trescothick’s Coming
Back to Me was very powerful. Kevin
Pietersen... I’m not mad about him, and
his second book was quite angry. But I
enjoyed reading about his South African
rugby experiences.”
The backbone of Italian cricket is
the sizeable South Asian immigrant
population in the northern cities.
“It’s the only tool of integration we
have,” declares Tramontin. “There is
sometimes a bit of a communal split
between teams. But cricket clubs have
been very welcoming to me: Kingsgrove
Milan were very patient, letting me net
with them, even though I must be the
worst bowler they have ever seen! I have
only height on my side. I’ve picked up
a quite a bit of knowledge about Asian
culture through cricket. I am actually
learning Hindi now.”
In cosmopolitan Milan, a group of Sri
Lankan women formed the backbone of
the local cricket club which Scalia joined.
“They were amazed that I wanted to
play,” says Scalia. “I became fully involved
in their life and culture. Then I moved and
found a club near Treviso and they were
all Italians. I was the oldest player, and the
youngest was 13. She could have been my
daughter, and it was amazing to be that
elder stateswoman.”
Tentative steps have been taken
towards organising female cricket
tournaments in Europe. Scalia had thehonour of representing Italy on a tour of
Ireland and Jersey in 2015.
“It was the first time I wore spikes,” said
Scalia. “In Italy we play only on synthetic
wickets. Fields are grass but not great
quality, so it was wonderful to be able
to dive around on the lush fields. Every
ground felt like Lord’s to me.”
Scalia says that traditional cricket
will struggle to transfer to European
audiences. But T20 is another matter.
Tramontin has commentated in Italian for
Eurosport on World Twenty20s and the
T20 Champions League.
Scalia says: “The fireworks, the
dancers, the kit colours... it’s a bit garish
sometimes, but on the big screen it can
be well presented.
“You need to tell your audience great
stories. Like Pravin Tambe, who came
from street cricket into the IPL at 41! Any
athlete can relate to it.”
Tramontin thinks that a reduced format
might be needed. So might the ECB be on
to something with The 100?
“Italians are accustomed to waves of
attack and defence – what you see in
football and rugby,” he says. “They are
not used to 11 players in blue and two
in orange, let alone 11 in white and two
others in white!
“I think cricket will take off here if
we reduce it to six a side, or play more
exhibition tournaments on the beach, or
on ice like in St Moritz.
“A TV producer once told me that the
excitement to him was the speed of the
ball coming down and how the batsman
deals with it. So maybe if you reduce
the playing area and play six-a-side, the
camera can more easily focus on the
middle and it will work better on TV.”Above
Luca Tramontin
attempts a
Dilscoop
beLoW
Daniela Scalia
hones her off-drive
108 | thecricketer.com