The Athletic\u00a0has launched a Cricket WhatsApp Channel. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to join.<\/em><\/p>\n He has played for Italy and last year turned down an approach by West Indies. But Emilio Gay will be fulfilling a lifetime\u2019s ambition when he walks out at Lord\u2019s this week, weather permitting, to open the batting for England<\/a> against New Zealand.<\/p>\n It was only when he was reassured that representing an associate country who do not play Test cricket would not disqualify him from England that Gay accepted Italy\u2019s advances.<\/p>\n The Durham batter, born and bred in Bedford, qualified through his maternal grandmother who moved to the UK from Montefalcione, near Naples.<\/p>\n But Gay has always had much loftier targets than playing for one of cricket\u2019s smaller emerging nations.<\/p>\n Gareth Berg, Gay\u2019s former team-mate at Northamptonshire and now the Italy coach, tried for two years to recruit his friend to the Italian cause, but it was only when they started competing for a place at the T20 World Cup that Gay decided to lend a hand.<\/p>\n He made an immediate impact 18 months ago when debuting for Italy against Tanzania in an ICC World Cup challenge 50-over game at Uganda\u2019s Entebbe Oval, about as far away from a Lord\u2019s Test as it is possible to get, scoring 96 from 84 balls.<\/p>\n Gay then went on, in the words of Berg, to \u201cboss it\u201d for Italy as they qualified for the T20 World Cup in India this year, but was denied playing against England in that tournament by a hamstring injury suffered, ironically, playing for England Lions in Australia.<\/p>\n \n Italy pushed England hard in Gay\u2019s absence at the T20 World Cup back in February (Pankaj Nangia\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI am so grateful for the opportunities Italy have given me,\u201d Gay told The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cBut not being disrespectful to them, and they know this, they were never my priority. I was trying to help them succeed but also get more white-ball cricket under my belt against good opposition and have some fun and new experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThe priority has always been England. There has never been any confusion there.\u201d<\/p>\n That was why Gay said no to a West Indies side for which he qualifies as his father\u2019s family originate from Grenada. It says much for his character that he was prepared to turn down a concrete offer to play Test cricket to wait for an England opportunity that was far from guaranteed.<\/p>\n The decision to say no to West Indies was emotional. Gay\u2019s interest in cricket was ignited on a family trip to the Caribbean in 2007 when he watched the World Cup and had a shirt signed by West Indies Dwayne Bravo.\u00a0Playing for West Indies would have meant a lot to his father\u2019s family. But a batter educated at Bedford School, which counts Sir Alastair Cook among its alumni,\u00a0always wanted to emulate his fellow left-hander at the top of the England order.<\/p>\n Now that day will come after Gay became the first recipient of England\u2019s stated aim of putting more store by county performances in the wake of their Ashes humbling<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n Gay has been in fine form for Durham this season (Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the start of the season it appeared Gay\u2019s Durham team-mate Ben McKinney \u2014 younger, more attacking and probably with a higher ceiling \u2014 was ahead of him in the queue to replace Zak Crawley<\/a>. But the appointment of Durham director of cricket Marcus North as England\u2019s new national selector undoubtedly worked in Gay\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n It was North who insisted to England coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, another Durham man, that Gay\u2019s time had come and he deserves this opportunity, at 26, after prolific run scoring in the last two years since his move north.<\/p>\n Gay believed his England ambitions would be better served at Durham, who have a history of producing England players, rather than with Northants and scored four division-one County Championship centuries last year before their surprise relegation.<\/p>\n He has been just as prolific in the second tier this year, making three centuries in Durham\u2019s opening six Championship games, albeit batting at No 3 because his county prefer McKinney and captain Alex Lees in their opening positions.<\/p>\n That should not really be an issue at Lord\u2019s, given Gay has always been an opener. He is an engaging character who looks to have the confidence and game to cope with the additional pressure that the highest stage will bring.<\/p>\n \n Emilio Gay made his name at Northamptonshire (David Rogers\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Gay\u2019s attitude did cause him problems in his early days, when his first Northants coach David Ripley remembers a youngster perhaps with a little too much confidence. \u201cIt didn\u2019t all go smoothly at first,\u201d Ripley told the i Paper<\/a>. \u201cHe was very strong-willed and confident and that didn\u2019t always come out well with other players.<\/p>\n \u201cHis first year, in particular, I remember as being quite tricky in terms of finding his place in the group. But he went off to the second team and credit to Emilio for how he adapted. He found his way and grew as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n Emilio Gay’s first-class record<\/p>\n Northamptonshire<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2019-24<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 48<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 83<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2,845<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 261<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 35.56<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 6<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 13<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 54<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Durham<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2024-<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 23<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 39<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1,735<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 161<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 49.57<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 4<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 64.76<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n England A<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 3<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 122<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 71<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 57.81<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 57.81<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Overall<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 2019-<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 73<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 125<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 4,702<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 261<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 39.84<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 13<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 18<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 57.63<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div><\/div>\n That growth was evident when Gay gave a mature interview to Neil Manthorp and Steve Harmison on their excellent talkSPORT podcast, Following On<\/a>, where he explained his decision to move away from friends and family to throw in his lot with Durham.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve wanted to play for England since I was six or seven years old,\u201d said Gay. \u201cI didn\u2019t move up here for the weather. My partner and family are four hours away.<\/p>\n \u201cI moved up here to advance my career and I felt if I was serious about playing Test cricket, this was something I had to do. I sat down with Marcus North and he reeled off a list of players from here who had gone on to play for England and they\u2019re serious about producing Test match cricketers and that\u2019s something I wanted to be part of.<\/p>\n \u201cI reached the stage where I needed to move and that\u2019s nothing against Northants. It was simply wanting to be in the best position to move forward and if there\u2019s more eyes and ears on a club where the likes of Ben Stokes, Alex Lees and Ben McKinney are playing, I want to be there and have that pressure to perform.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great when you have the England captain watching you. It brings pressure and that\u2019s what I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Italy's](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/06\/02134320\/GettyImages-2261912422-scaled.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Emilio](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/06\/02134332\/GettyImages-1307599126-scaled.jpg\")
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\n Team<\/span><\/th>\n Years<\/span><\/th>\n Matches<\/span><\/th>\n Innings<\/span><\/th>\n Runs<\/span><\/th>\n HS<\/span><\/th>\n Average<\/span><\/th>\n 100<\/span><\/th>\n 50<\/span><\/th>\n Strike rate<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
![\"Emilio](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/06\/02134345\/GettyImages-2249118729-scaled.jpg\")
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