London [UK], December 31 : Emilio Gay is looking to earn a place in England’s Test squad led by Ben Stokes in 2025 after a breakthrough season in the County Championship.

Emilio has represented Italy in four 50-over games in November, slamming half-centuries for ‘Azzurri’ in each of them, with his best being 96 against Tanzania.

According to Sky Sports, since Italy is not a full-member ICC nation, his appearances for the ‘Azzurri’ won’t stand in the 24-year-old’s way to represent England.

With his fiery form, the top-order batter was one to watch for in 2024. He racked up 919 runs in 10 matches for Northamptonshire in Division Two. He went on to add another 100 runs to his name in two Division One fixtures for Durham. Overall in 2024, he garnered 1,019 runs in the County Championship with his rich vein of form.

“[England Men’s selector] Luke Wright reached out to me in August regarding the Lions – I think I just missed out on the red-ball game against Sri Lanka. I am an honest person and am naturally disappointed not to be involved with England this winter in some sort of squad or Lions tour,” Emilio told Sky Sports.

During England’s series against New Zealand, the Three Lions needed an extra batter due to Jamie Smith’s paternity leave. Despite his experience, Emilio was overlooked, and Jacob Bethell was brought in to fill the gap, who didn’t have much experience in red-ball cricket.

“I am aware they have gone down a slightly different route with regards to picking younger players, but I have just got 1,000 runs and had a good couple of seasons before that behind me. I really feel as if I am at that point in my career where I am pushing for that top-three spot in Test cricket, but for whatever reason, I have not been picked for anything,” he continued.

“It is hard at times when you are averaging 60, and I would like to understand a bit more why certain things have happened, but that is beyond my control. I certainly don’t want to rubbish what other people have done because there are some really talented players who have been fast-tracked into this Bazball way,” he added.

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