There were still forty-five minutes left before the game began. On Monday morning, outside the gates at Eden, five Italian fans caught the eye. Moving closer to speak with them revealed a misconception. They were not ordinary fans. They were the family of Italy's cricketer Grant Stewart.
They had not come from Italy. The Stewart family's home is in Australia. Grant's father, Terry, was saying, "I am Australian. My wife is Italian. It's because of this Italian heritage that Grant is eligible to play for Italy." Stewart Senior mentioned that they live near Sydney. With pride, he said, "I heard many are coming later. To watch the next matches in the group league. But we couldn't wait patiently. Grant will play in the World Cup – we came early to see this from the beginning. We plan to watch all the group league matches."
ALSO READ | How are associate nations no longer just supporting acts in world cricket?
Before the Scotland and Italy match
The previous day, Italy's Canadian coach John Davison had said that our team has many all-rounders. This is our team's great strength. This Grant Stewart is also an all-rounder. He bowls right-arm fast medium, bats in the middle order. In childhood, he also kept wickets. He also bowled leg spin at one time. But later completely changed his bowling style to become a pacer.
The Stewart family didn't have to wait long to watch their son play. Italy's captain Wayne Madsen won the toss and chose to field. Ali Hasan opened the bowling. Grant came to bowl as the second bowler. Terry Stewart and family's dream of watching their son play in the World Cup also came true.
