Emilio Gay: England cricket hope, plays for Italy and comes to Durham from Northamptonshire | Cricket news
Could the next England trial player be the current Italy international?
Durham’s Emilio Gay certainly hopes so, with the left-hander aiming to break into Ben Stokes’ red-ball ranks in 2025 and focusing on improving his white-ball game to do so.
Bedford-born Gay qualified for Italy through his mother and played in four 50-over matches for the Azzurri in November, scoring half-centuries in each with a top score of 96 against Tanzania.
With Italy not a full member of the ICC, those appearances will not stop him from representing his native England – and the top player is frustrated that he has not already done so.
Gay amassed 1,019 County Championship tackles in 2024, scoring 919 in 10 games for Northamptonshire in the Second Division, followed by a further 100 in two First Division matches for Durham, a team he initially joined on loan before making a permanent switch over the winter.
The highlight was an innings of 261 for Northants against Middlesex.
Yet when England needed extra batting in New Zealand due to Jamie Smith’s paternity leave, Gay was overlooked in favor of Jacob Bethell, a player with zero red-ball hundreds compared to Gay’s six and who has scored just 466 first-class runs this summer.
Gay disappointed not to be related to England
Bethell, of course. against the Black Caps, he showed the supreme talent he possesseshe scored three half-centuries from third and looked like a Test player, but Zak Crawley’s lack of form at the top of the order may have given Gay a hint of a call-up.
So where does he think he stands in the pecking order?
Gay, 24, said Sky Sports: “[England Men’s selector] Luke Wright approached me in August about the Lions – I think I just missed the red ball game against Sri Lanka.
“I’m a fair person and I’m naturally disappointed not to be involved in some sort of team or Lions tour to England this winter.
“I’m aware they’ve taken a slightly different route in terms of picking younger players, but I’ve just got 1,000 runs and I’ve had a good couple of seasons before that.
“I really feel like I’m at that point in my career where I’m fighting for that spot in the top three in Test cricket, but for whatever reason, I haven’t been picked for anything.
“It’s hard sometimes when you’re 60 years old on average and I’d like to understand a little better why some things happened, but it’s out of my control.
“I certainly don’t want to undo what other people have done because there are some really talented players who are quickly drawn into this way of baseball.
‘I want to do things a little differently’
“All I can do is score runs, get hundreds and go about my business.
“Next season my aim is not to go over 1,000 runs, but to exceed what people expect from Emilio Gay and I want to do things a little differently.
“I was injured last year for most of the Vitality Blast and I think not playing a lot of T20 cricket somewhat hurt my goals to play Test cricket, especially with the way England are playing at the moment.
“My aim was to dominate in red-ball cricket, but now that I’m more established in county cricket, I want to expand my white-ball game. That was one of the reasons why I chose to play for Italy.”
Gay followed up his unbeaten 96 against Tanzania with innings of 57, 50 and 66 not out against Hong Kong, Uganda and Singapore, opening with the former Australian star Joe Burns.
He added: “I saw it as a good opportunity to score a difficult wicket [in Uganda] and explore a little, play with freedom when there wasn’t so much pressure on the outcome. I’m really glad I went.
“The environment was great, a lot of fun, but it was also an opportunity to play with quality players. I learned something from him.
“[Kent’s] Grant Stewart and [former Middlesex, Hampshire and Northamptonshire all-rounder] And Gareth Berg was there, so we had some really good cricket brains.
“The boys have qualified for the 2026 T20 World Cup and I think they have a really good chance. I was surprised by how much skill there was in the camp.”
‘Moving to Durham was the best thing for my career’
Gay has not ruled out playing for Italy again, but stressed that securing an England call-up is his ultimate goal, citing it as the main reason he swapped Northants for Durham.
The batsman, who is also looking to improve his fielding and athleticism over the winter, said: “Durham have produced a lot of England players over the years and there are players in this dressing room with recent or current international experience.
“Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson have all been called up by England for the New Zealand series, David Bedingham for South Africa.
“There are so many players at this club that I want to be around so that I can put myself in the best position to achieve my goals. Apart from Durham, there weren’t many countries that I could look at.
“People say if it was a big, hard decision to leave Northants and some parts of it were – my family is down there and it was disappointing to leave friends and memories behind. But I think this is the best thing for my career so it’s such an easier decision .
“The exposure at Northampton probably wasn’t as big as it is here in Division One with players around the English system.
“I remember getting a hundred against Surrey in League One in 2022 against a top bowling attack and maybe those kind of shots don’t stand out as much in certain places.”
