England vs Italy Prediction: Why Ben and Bethell are carrying our money

We have made it to the fourth and final group game for England and despite not looking great so far - qualification would be assured if they beat Italy on Monday. Jamie Pacheco previews England’s fourth match of the T20 World Cup against Italy, starting at 09:30 on Monday, February 16, and live on Sky Sports Main Event.   

Jamie is going for Italy’s skipper to take the most wickets for his team at 6/1 and the in-form Jacob Bethell to top score for England with the bat at 4/1... 

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England vs Italy Preview & Team News:

England 

It was all pretty straightforward for England in the end, but at one stage they looked like conceding around 170, while the dismissal of their two openers for single figures will have caused some panic to set in. 

But Tom Banton stepped up with a composed and controlled 63 off 41 to see his team home with an over and a half to spare.  

Skipper Harry Brook is is struggling a bit, but Sam Curran made a second important contribution with the bat.  

Earlier, Adil Rashid took three wickets to hand us a good 14/5 winner in the top bowler market.  

Italy 

Italy conceded too many against Scotland to give themselves a chance of a successful chase and lost skipper Wayne Marsden for the remainder of the tournament just a few overs into the match.  

But they hit back against Nepal with a fantastic bowling and fielding effort to restrict the Nepalese to just 123 before making a mockery of any suggestion it was a tough pitch when the Mosca brothers got to the total after just 12.3 overs, without losing a wicket.  

I'm not sure I've ever seen a team in the World Cup with two sets of brothers in it (please send in a letter if you know of one) but the Mosca brothers - Justin and Anthony - are joined in the team by the Manentis. Harry is mostly a batsman, while Ben, who has played for the Sixers over in the Big Bash for a few years now, is mostly a spinner but bats up the order for his country. He's also the skipper with Marsden out.

Pitch and conditions 

We're at Eden Gardens, home of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.  

The average first innings score here is 155 in T20Is. There are quick runs on offer in the first few overs but when the spinners come on, scoring can be tricky.  

Match Winner odds. 

England are 1/25 with Italy 9/1. It's probably not the last time this WC where I'll say I'd rather be on the outsider than the favourite at those prices.  

If England get to around 160 and those Mosca brothers get going in the chase, this could go to the wire.   

I wouldn't put anyone off having a couple of quid on Italy, but I'll just about leave this market alone.   

*You can bet on this match and check out all the live England vs Italy T20 World Cup Cricket Odds over on betfred.com

Italy Top Bowler  

I'm quite surprised that Ben Manenti is 6/1 to be their top bowler. In fact, very surprised. He's had plenty of experience playing at a high level in the Big Bash for both the Adelaide Strikers and the Sydney Sixers, so is one of the few who were consistently up against top-class players like the ones he's going to find here.   

Now, it's true that his record at domestic level isn't fantastic in terms of taking wickets, but he's often used as a containing bowler in the BBL rather than a wicket-taking one.  

As skipper, he's very likely to bowl himself for the full four overs, so I think he'll give us a good run for our money.  

England Top Batsman  

Jacob Bethell has top-scored in one of England's three matches so far, also getting 32 against Scotland and 33 against the Windies, so he's probably been their most consistent batter.   

The two openers, Salt and Buttler, haven't really got going and there's always a danger that the likes of Harry Brook and Sam Curran may not get much of a chance, especially if chasing a low total, which is always a possibility.  

Bethell will bat at three, so he should really get a decent chance of top scoring again at 4/1 this time.  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2025: 

• Points Staked: 146 
• Points Returned: 151.7  
• Final P/L: +5.7pts  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2026:   

• Points Staked: 21.25 
• Points Returned: 26.8 
• Current P/L: +5.55  

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page...  

Top Price

Available 09:00 04/02 – 05:30 07/02. Top Price/Joint Top Price all teams to win T20 WC with selected bookmakers using Oddschecker for comparison. Max Stakes Vary. Prices may fluctuate. T&Cs Apply.

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