Kent & Italy all-rounder Grant Stewart has spoken to BBC Radio Kent about his first ICC Men’s T20 World Cup appearance with his national side, with Italy beginning their tournament against Scotland on Monday morning.
Speaking to BBC Radio Kent’s ‘The Huddle’ programme that airs every Friday evening on BBC Radio Kent & BBC Sounds between 6 & 7pm, Grant talks about his pride of playing for his mother’s country of birth, and also his hopes for Kent’s 2026 season.
Listen to the interview here [via BBC Sounds]
Our squad’s been together for a while now,” Grant tells BBC Radio Kent’s Ben Watts, “but that was really good prep for us to play those games in Dubai and leading into this big tournament.
“We’ve got confidence in our squad and that’s for sure, but a lot of the tournaments we’ve played so far, you’re probably not playing against the highest ranked teams at times.
“We’ve been pretty good over the last couple of years, but to be able to play some games against, yeah, that international series against Ireland and really put ourselves under pressure against, I think they’re ranked 11th in the world.”
Italy defeated full ICC Member Ireland, their first victory over a Test-playing nation, as part of their preparations for the T20 World Cup.
“That was massive for Italian cricket,” Grant explains. “To be able to win against a full member nation, hopefully it’s the start of some more wins on the board.
“Obviously we’re coming up against some very tough opposition, but we’d like to think on our day, we can definitely rustle a few feathers and potentially create a few upsets.
“That’s definitely what we’re aiming to do coming into the World Cup, try and put Italy Cricket on the map.”
Grant grew up in Western Australia, but qualifies through Italy through his Italian mother.
“The short story is my Mum’s Italian,” he explains. “My grandparents moved over from Italy [to Australia] after World War II. There’s funnily enough, a decent Italian community around where I grew up and the Italian traditions are definitely still present in my upbringing in Australia, that’s for sure.
“Most recently, I actually got married in Italy, in Puglia. That was quite special and something to hold pretty close, and going back to the village where my grandparents grew up, getting to see the small little village where my family come from.
“I’ve been intrigued and keen to play for Italy for some time before that, but I just, I guess, didn’t really know the route or I was still finding my way in county cricket a little bit as well. So I wasn’t really sure of how to go about it.
“I guess the coach at the time, Gareth Berg, played against him a little bit, he sort of caught wind that I had a bit of Italian heritage and he got in touch.
“It’s pretty crazy to see how cricket in Italy has progressed since I started playing and hopefully keeps going in that direction.”
Grant feels a lot of pride in representing Italy at their first ever T20 World Cup.
“Oh, it’s massive. Not only the opportunity to play at a World Cup, I guess that’s something you dream about as a kid, isn’t it?
“To be able to represent my family and my family heritage, that’s something that means quite a lot to me. And I know I’ve got some family coming over to support me as well.
“They’re all very stoked and really looking forward to supporting the cricket team, I guess, because cricket probably hasn’t been at the forefront of Italian sporting culture previously! It’s starting to make its way in.
“Mum and Dad are coming out, and my older brother, and I’ve got a couple of friends coming as well. It’ll be really cool.”
The Azzurri are in Group C at the 2026 T20 World Cup along with Bangladesh, England, Nepal and West Indies.
“We’ve got a pretty tough group, to be fair. England, West Indies are obviously the two favourites to go through and they’ll be very tough customers. But Nepal, they’ll be very good in Indian conditions as well.
“We’ve come up against Scotland a few times. So we know their team a little bit, but there’s obviously no easy game. So quite a tough group, like you said, but we’re pretty confident with our preparation that we’re going to put our best foot forward.
“However that ends up for us, I think we’ll be pretty proud of how we’ve gone, I think.
“There’s quite a few I’ve played against, so I know a little bit about the England team. Like I said, it’s those opportunities, getting to play against some of the best players in the world.
“You always jump at that opportunity and try and put your best foot forward and compete against teams like that.
“I’ve heard a few stories from a few boys who have played in the IPL about the atmosphere that you sort of come across over here. And we actually played one of our warm-up games at Chennai the other day.
“There’s no crowd in, but the stadium itself was impressive. So yeah, it’ll be very interesting to see it when it’s fully packed and it’ll be an awesome experience.”
Stewart then looks ahead to the start of Kent’s season, which draws ever-closer, on 3 April.
“The county season certainly comes around quick, doesn’t it? But yeah, really looking forward to that as well.
“I think although last year probably wasn’t the year we were hoping for, I think we’ve got a really strong squad and a few former Kent players returning, which is going to add real strike power to our squad.
“By the sounds of things, everyone’s had a really good off-season and can’t wait to get back into it. So hopefully we can have a really good season, that’s for sure.”
BBC Radio Kent’s ‘The Huddle’ airs every Friday evening on BBC Radio Kent & BBC Sounds between 6 & 7pm
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