Young Roshendra Abeywickrema wants to play cricket in Italy

CRICKET: The Young Milan-born star of the Under 17 and 19 Italian cricket national teams is an example of integration and problems. He does not have Italian citizenship and will go to study in Cambridge.

Do not call him the 'Balotelli' of cricket even if Roshendra Abeywickrema is an AC Milan fan just like 'Super Mario'. He has made an application to be admitted to the college of engineering in Cambridge and is also a decisive player for the Italian national cricket team.

Hidden among the enormous suburban fields, there is a sport which is growing rapidly in the number of players and the results attained. Italy finds itself with a 17-year-old from Sri Lanka who is considered one of the most promising young players. But, Roshendra, who will become 18 on 6th November, is still not an Italian citizen. In order to play in the national team residence in Italy is considered a sufficient requisite. His father had submitted his application for Italian citizenship one year ago and the procedure could be still quite long. If his father does not become Italian before the boy attains 18 years, Roshendra will have to submit a new application for himself and this might take years before being accepted. In one year's time, after finishing high school, he will go to England to study in Cambridge or at London Imperial College. Italian cricket has found talent and now risks losing it.

The first guarantee for a favourable solution of the problem is offered by the boy himself. The link with the 'blue shirt' of the Italian national team is very solid for Roshendra who says: "I want to play for Italy, without any doubts. Italian cricket can only grow. In August in the 4th category championship, we have obtained a promotion and at the end of January in Hong Kong we will compete in the third category. This, up to a few years ago, is an unthinkable level fou us. Obviously on the field we are all boys coming from other countries where the tradition of cricket is very strong. But when we play for Italy we all feel Italians. I personally do not feel being a foreigner any more thanks to cricket."

Roshendra lives and plays in Milan for the 'Kingsgrove' team, a team which has been just newly promoted from second division and now is fighting against Pianoro, the top Italian team. He studies in an English language international school, is excellent in physics and mathematics and sings in the school choir. "I began playing cricket in Sri Lanka when I was 11 years old, and when I came to Italy I was 12, and for a couple for years I did not know that I could play my favourite sport in this country.

The network of friends began spreading and I started playing cricket once again, finding an excellent trainer who has helped me a lot to learn the Italian language. Milan is my home town, it may be chaotic but there is nothing that I do not like about it. However, next year I will go to study in England since there I can have a scholarship for cricket and therefore improve as a player, hoping also that this may be useful to grow further with the 'blue shirt'

Roshendra - Captain of u - 17 and u - 19

Roshendra is the captain of the Italian under 17 and under 19 teams and is an important element for the adult national team trained by Joe Scuderi. Young national teams have a fundermental importance for the integration of young people born in Italy from foreign parents or emigrated here a few years ago together with their families. The under 15 team which won the European B Tournament lined up only one boy of traditional Italian family (Edoardo Scanu), finished on the first page of many newspapers as a symbol of the new Italy, daughter of integration, which is growing also thanks to a sport in expansion. I am discovering Italy also thanks to the trips which I make with my cricket team', says Roshendra, "In Bologna there are some very good pitches while in Milan we have a space problem '. The Kingsgrove team plays in Settimo Milanese even if a pitch might be built in Cascina Monlue in Milan on the occasion of the 2015 Expo.

Of course cricket is not football and therefore what is the reason why a young boy should choose wickets, batters and poppin crease? 'In this sport we learn how to grow as persons', says Roshendra who is an all-rounder, "developing the art of patience and care for one's own character since we need calm and capacity to dialogue with the team mates in order to study and understand the different situations.' For a boy who comes from afar and dreams to become Italian, and not only on the field, there is also another aspect which should not be neglected. 'We can tour the world. I have already been in Australia, Tanzania and Malaysia and this summer I took part in a cricket academy in Spain with the strongest European players, where I improved my athletic fitness'. Because, if someone had any doubt, cricket is a real sport, and to lose our little genius would really be a shame.