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ScorecardDawid Malan helped build Middlesex’s lead•Getty Images

When Dawid Malan returned from a 10-week lay-off after breaking a bone in his hand while fielding on the first day of the season, Middlesex head coach Richard Scott had one “simple” request upon his return: “Look, go big.” Truth be told, it did not need to be said, least of all to Malan – a player worthy of the selectors’ eye who at times has been guilty of wanting “it” too much.In the context of this relatively low scoring encounter, on a Lord’s surface that started in favour of the spinners and looks set to finish at the mercy of the spinners, Malan has produced two commendable knocks in both situations against a Sussex attack that have offered little respite.His first innings 93 showed his capacity to rebuild – something he has developed – while his century today (a second of the season), off 172 balls and featuring seven fours, showcased his match-awareness. He has now scored a century against Sussex in the Championship, NatWest Blasdt and Royal London Cup this season.Sitting unbeaten on 118 – with a season average of over 100 – he has helped Middlesex to a lead of 260 by ensuring his side had batted the day out. There is some rain around tomorrow morning which might force Middlesex to declare, but there is also the very real possibility that Sussex whittle out the remaining two wickets for not many to establish themselves as favourites.That the game finds itself at this juncture is down to the fact that neither team has let the game slide. In the grand scheme of things, Middlesex have set out to do what they wanted: to bat out the whole day and establish a lead in excess of 250, ebbing away the Sussex morale in the process. But it was an objective that the visitors did everything in their power to prevent.In the first two sessions, each time Middlesex looked to put daylight between them and Sussex, skipper Ed Joyce and his bowlers landed telling blows to keep them in check.Sam Robson continued his pro-active approach from last night to move to 77 at an impressive strike-rate of 73.33, before he nicked the left-arm spinner Ashar Zaidi behind, before the Sussex man changed ends and took out Nick Compton’s leg stump.Then Steve Magoffin, after getting Nick Gubbins caught behind – the ball seemingly coming off the opener’s sleeve – registered his 500th first class wicket when a fine delivery drew James Franklin forward and left him, to Joyce at first slip.Perhaps the moment that best highlighted the fight from Sussex came in the dregs of the middle session. With Malan and John Simpson taking the Middlesex towards a lead of 150 with a partnership of 78 from the dismissal of Franklin, Joyce turned to Ollie Robinson from the Pavilion End. But, instead of the seam-bowling allrounder marking his full run-up, Robinson took five paces back, at an angle, and turned for what would be the first of 31 deliveries of off-spin delivered today.At the time, there was an element of confusion. While he has bowled off-spin previously this season, the game was still in the balance and the move to a bit-part spinner, when Zaidi had excelled from that very end and Luke Wells was causing discomfort with his leg spin, seemed odd. However, come stumps, it had earned him three wickets.It is a bit more than a party trick: Robinson had spent most of his childhood as an off-break bowler, only turning to pace “in the last four or five years”. While he mostly works on his seam bowling – a necessity given the number of injuries Sussex have in that department – he does take time to practice spin, including this morning when he became aware that it may be required as the day drew on.Malan felt that Robinson turned the ball more than anyone today. “Some say you never lose it,” joked the bowling allrounder/part-time off-spinner at close, while also wondering if he had missed a trick by not continuing with it as a full-time pursuit. He has had to take on a great deal of the fast bowling workloads as one of the few still fit. “To be honest, my shins are absolutely killing me!”His first wicket was probably the best of the lot, drifting the ball perfectly onto a length that drew Simpson forward: the ball then turning down the slope and catching the left-hander’s edge for a routine catch to Joyce at first slip. The second, from over the wicket this time, saw James Harris work the ball around the corner to Chris Nash at leg-slip for a most unwanted pair. And it would be Robinson who would bring the day to a close, returning after five overs of pace with the new ball to trap Toby Roland-Jones lbw, thus ending a 77-run partnership.Roland-Jones cut a disgruntled figure, remaining still at the crease, even as the bails had been the removed, shocked by the decision that came his way. There was little sympathy from the Sussex fielders, who believed they had cut Malan off on 93 for the second time in this match when he attempted a dab sweep off Zaidi.The fielders populated the middle of the pitch in appeal and premature celebration, believing there was some bat through to Ben Brown, who had an excellent day behind the stumps in testing conditions.

Umpires Ray Julian and Chris Kelly consulted the Lord’s hierarchy, before recommending to the team captains, that play should be abandoned, not just for the second day in succession, but for the third day also.Incessant rain from 4 pm on Tuesday, including heavy falls of snow, sleet and hailstones left The Parks outfield saturated, and with a bad weather expected for a few more days, the teams made their way home.Veteran umpire Ray Julian, with over 1,100 matches under his belt remarked that it would be lucky to get on one week from now. Chris Kelly was particularly disappointed as this was his first-class debut. “I had been looking forward to this match ever since I received the fixture”, said Kelly, who has spent a number of years on the Minor Counties panel. “I had built myself up for this match, and I’m sad that the weather has ruined it for me”.Hampshire coach Jimmy Cook, who is to write a regular article for the Hampshire Web site, immediatly organised some indoor nets for the County Ground that afternoon.

For much of the festive season the South African have been wondering out loud what it might be like to be play on an authentic home pitch. They found out on the first day of the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Tuesday.On a pitch that offered more pace and bounce than any South African Test wicket this summer, Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 95 with South Africa fashioning 130 for two in reply before stumps.Shaun Pollock took six for 30. He had very good reason to be pleased with the way things went."The best thing I did was lose the toss," he said afterwards. "We always thought there would be a bit of bounce and that was what assisted us. All we did was use the swing up front and there was a bit of away movement and a bit of bounce and carry and I think, not having played on too many of those wickets this season, from our batting point of view the guys came in and said they’d had a workout. They hadn’t had balls coming on to them like that for some time."A bit of a workout it might have been for the South African batsmen, but it was doubly so for Sri Lanka. From the start of the tour the Sri Lankans have talked about adjusting to the bounce of the South African wickets. At Kingsmead they didn’t have to worry about it. At Newlands, however, the chickens came home to roost.But to attribute the Sri Lankan collapse entirely to the pitch would be unfair to the South Africans who bowled and caught superbly. Pollock, in particular, was quite magnificent.Although he is the slowest of the four South African seamers employed on Tuesday, his eyes lit up at a pitch that gave something back to him. He had a purple patch at the starting of the Sri Lankan innings, taking four for none in the space of 13 balls as the visitors slipped to 13 for four and he twice pinged a Sri Lankan helmet, something he hasn’t done for quite a while.Pollock had a beautiful away shape going that accounted for Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene and, coming in to the left-hander, Russel Arnold. He also slid one across Sanath Jayasuriya to once again sent the Sri Lankan captain packing cheaply and played a part in getting rid of Avishka Gunawardene, unsettling the batsman with a bouncer that rattled the earpiece. Mfuneko Ngam picked up the wicket in the following over.Ngam does not have anything like Pollock’s control, but he is quick and none of the tourists enjoyed facing him. He claimed three wickets after lunch, including that of Kumar Sangakkara who, alone among the Sri Lankans, seemed to have the stomach for it and although he is likely to drop out when Allan Donald returns, he has already demonstrated that he can fit in at this level.That there were runs in the pitch was shown when South Africa batted, but not before Herschelle Gibbs’ return to the crease. With all the talk of whether he should or should not be playing, it was almost inevitable that his return would be extraordinary. It was, but it lasted only two balls.One of the South African selectors has privately justified Gibbs’ return on the perfectly legitimate grounds that his ban was for six months, not six months and a couple of days or another Test match.In the end the 13 000 at Newlands saw Gibbs go tamely, pushing tentatively at Chaminda Vaas to be caught at the wicket. He was, however, fortunate in that his return was largely overshadowed by South Africa having such a good day.Gary Kirsten, dropped in the gully on 36 by Jayasuriya, helped himself to 52, Jacques Kallis ended the day one short of 50 and Daryll Cullinan looked in ominous nick on one of his favourite grounds. It is difficult to see how Sri Lanka can drag themselves back into this match.However well they bowl, they will have to hope South Africa make a mess of an excellent position. And even then, the confidence of their batsmen has quite clearly been undermined. Their tour has reached critical mass.

We have been down this road before – one nil up with two Test matchesto play after an emphatic victory in Galle. Against South Africa lastyear and England in March, however, our form dipped in Kandy and wefailed to capitalise on series winning opportunities. This time wehave to be more ruthless.Quite simply, we have waited too long – it’s been 16 years sinceDuleep Mendis’ side won a Test series against India. We have to followthe lead of the single-minded Australians: be extremely positive andgo for the jugular.We are well aware of what happened against England and South Africa.However, to make sure it doesn’t happen again, we will not be focusingon those results but on the processes that will lead towards successthis time round. If the players concentrate on their specific rolesand responsibilities, then the right result should follow.The 10-wicket win in Galle was very pleasing because, right from theoutset, we were positive, both in terms of the pitch surface, whichhad a generous covering of grass, and in the unprecedented selectionof four fast bowlers.The pitch itself was actually quite dry underneath and, although therewas some extra grass and a little more bounce, it was fairly sluggishin pace. Nevertheless, though we could have batted first, it was anatural decision to bowl first.The bowling itself on the first day was pretty good. On occasions wemay have bowled a little wide of off stump, but we made them strugglefor runs. At lunch they had only scored 16 from 20 overs and at teathey had crawled to 95 for one from 56 overs. This low scoringreflected the good line and length that we bowled.India’s slow progress was crucial because, although we may not havebeen taking as many wickets as we would have liked, we always knewthat a couple of breakthroughs would put them under tremendouspressure. In fact, that’s exactly what happened in the final session,when we nipped out four wickets to end the first day well placed.The second new ball was crucial and the bowling of Dilhara Fernandowas exceptional. In a short space of time he has emphatically provedhis potential. He has tightened his line without compromising on paceand is always going to be dangerous when he gets the ball in the rightareas.There is no doubt that his two wickets at the end of the first daywere crucial and allowed us to spring into action on day two. Then, toget the prize wicket of Sourav Ganguly early on, with an absolutebrute of a delivery, was a real bonus that paved the way for usdismissing them for 187, a total which we were confident ofoverhauling.The batting was a tale of two halves. Runs flowed right from thestart, as the Indian bowlers didn’t help themselves by bowling twosides of the wicket. Crucially, Sanath Jayasuriya capitalised on thatand made them pay dearly.After the dismissal of Sanath the Indian bowlers started to bowlbetter and that made life harder for Kumar Sangakkara. He played andmissed a few times at the start, but he worked really hard and graftedfor his runs, clearly showing that he not only has the talent but alsothe temperament. It’s a good sign when you see a player competing whenhe is not in the best of form and that’s exactly what Kumar did.Having built up a useful lead of 175, we were naturally confident, butalso aware that India had comeback from an even worse situationagainst Australia and had gone on to win.Murali though came into the game more that evening. During the firstinnings he played second fiddle, but in their second dig he used theconditions superbly and was a real handful. Wickets started to fall -seven in fact during the last session, as the pressure snowballed.When you build up such a strong momentum, it is very difficult to stopand I thought we were unlucky to wrap the game up that evening.Kandy should also offer help to the fast bowlers. The Asgiriya squareholds together well and there is some bounce. We will, however, haveto have a good look at the wicket before we decide on the final side.Whatever that is though the key will be carrying on from where we leftoff in Galle by playing positive cricket.

Pakistan captain Misbah ul Haq has expressed his disappointment with the selectors over not having another spinner in the squad to cover for the injured Yasir Shah in the opening Test in Abu Dhabi. Pakistan prefer to play two fast bowlers and at least two specialist spinners but were forced to bring in Imran Khan as part of a three-man seam attack after a back spasm ruled out Yasir.Pakistan initially named a 15-man squad, with another spinner – either Zafar Gohar or Mohammad Asghar – expected to come in as a 16th player but instead Shoaib Malik was selected having not played a Test in five years. Less than 24 hours before the first Test, Yasir collapsed during a training session and he was unable to prove his fitness on Tuesday morning. It was a major setback for Pakistan, with their plans centred on Yasir.The flaw in their selection was immediately apparent, with no spinner sitting on the bench as a cover. Misbah made his feelings clear before the start of the match, saying: “I think it’s a mismanagement and we’re really disappointed by this.”The team’s management had attempted to bring back Gohar but the uncapped left-arm spinner had already returned to Pakistan after playing in two warm-up matches against England and had to apply for another visa.The PCB made every effort to fly Gohar overnight to Abu Dhabi from Lahore and make him available for selection but time was against them. He did not make it and Pakistan had to play three seamers against their will, leading to Misbah voicing his disapproval publically.It was, however, with the consent of Misbah that team management preferred Malik to either Gohar or Asghar. Both were to be judged while playing for Pakistan A against England in Sharjah last week, with Gohar emerging as the standout performer with figures of 2 for 47 and 3 for 72.It is understood that Misbah was not happy with the selections in the first place, with four seamers and two spinners included, but he did not resist and the squad was ultimately named with his consent. With Mohammad Hafeez currently banned from bowling, Zulfiqar Babar will therefore carry the spin burden, although Malik – who has 21 Test wickets at 61.47 – is also likely to contribute.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball-detailsAn all-round performance from Sohaib Maqsood in the form of 45 off 28 balls and three crucial wickets led Multan Tigers to a five-wicket win against Abbottabad Falcons in Lahore.Falcons were given a steady start with a 51-run opening stand between Haroon (29) and Sajjad Ali (25). But with the dismissal of both of them, wickets started to totter and Falcons were reeling at 117 for 8, losing eight wickets for 66 runs. Adnan Raees (34 off 21) in the middle order and captain Junaid Khan (17 off 7) at No. 11 showed some resistance to take the Falcons to a fighting total of 141 after they scored 22 runs in their last over.In reply, Tigers responded strongly with a 77-run opening stand between Zeeshan Ashraf and Maqsood. Three quick wickets and a run-out by Yasir Shah slowed the proceedings for a while as the Tigers were now 120 for 5. While Gulraiz Sadaf was out for a golden duck, Kashif Naved was snapped by Rameez Ahmed diving to his left at gully.It was Ashraf who held his nerves to take his side home with Rizwan Haider who hit the winning runs in style with a boundary over midwicket to finish the chase with 14 balls to spare.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsLahore Lions beat the Sialkot Stallions by restricting them to 118 for 8, and winning the match by 44 runs in Lahore. Opting to bat first, Lions were led by opener Nasir Jamshed who carried his bat with 71 off 56, which included seven fours and a six. He did not get much support from the top order as three wickets fell in the first ten overs. But Karman Akmal and Jamshed put on 69 runs for the fourth wicket to take their run-rate to over seven, and their score beyond 100. Once Akmal departed, Ali Azmat’s cameo of 21 off 11 added impetus to their innings, with Jamshed’s fifty helping them to a respectable score.Sialkot captain Shoaib Malik picked up two wickets, but gave away 35 runs, lacking practice because he he had not bowled during the one-dayers in South Africa. Raza Hasan, playing a match after over three months, gave only 18 runs in his four overs.Stallions were never in the race, losing wickets at regular intervals, as only one player passed 20. The opening partnership was broken in the third over by Aizaz Cheema, with Zia-ul-Haq striking in the next over. No. 4 Shahid Yousuf counter-attacked with a 11-ball 17 before he was caught behind off Wahab Riaz. The opener Shakeel Ansar was run out on the very next ball. Malik couldn’t survive for more than five balls, and offspinner Adnan Rasool took over from there, picking up three wickets in his four overs for 17 runs, which almost sealed the win for Lions. No. 9 batsman Bilawal Bhatti scored an unbeaten 24 to take them past 100, but the target proved too steep as Stallions eventually fell short by 44 runs.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball-details
Faisalabad Wolves off to a winning start, routing Bahawalpur Stags by 63 runs in the opening match of the tournament.Wolves, after opting to bat first, made a brisk start as opener Farrukh Shehzad began with an aggressive pull over midwicket for a first-ball boundary. A blow on his helmet while attempting a dilscoop didn’t slow him down, and he went on to hit six boundaries including a six before edging Fahad Masood behind the stumps for 30 off 20 balls. Left-hand batsman Ali Waqas was stuck on 6 after five overs but he improved during a partnership of 39 off 41 balls with Asif Ali. With the help of five boundaries including two sixes, Asif struck 34 off 25 balls to propel Wolves.Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who joined his team minutes before play began with wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Salman as the makeshift captain until Misbah arrived. Wolves had closed in on 100 by the 14th over before Misbah (22 off 20 balls not out) took guard. He anchored a 40-run stand for the fifth wicket with Khurram Shehzad (19 off 12 balls) to take Wolves to competitive total of 154.Stags’ chase got off to a disastrous start, with two wickets off the first two balls. A faint edge down leg handed opener Imranullah Aslam a golden duck while Kashif Saddiq slashed a wide and uppish delivery only to be caught at point.Hammad Tariq (28) and Moinuddin (15), the top scorers for Stags, tried to stage a recovery but Wolves proved too strong. Stags kept losing wickets regularly and were never able to bring down the asking rate, crumbling to 91 for 8 in 20 overs. Shehzad, the Man of the Match, was the main destroyer, conceding only 20 runs for his four wickets.

Jamie Cox, the former Tasmania captain, will continue as a national selector despite his appointment as South Australia’s high performance manager. Cox was confirmed as Rod Marsh’s successor by the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) on Saturday.Currently a group sport manager at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Cox will move to Adelaide at the end of September. “I will be [staying on as a selector] at this stage”, Cox told the . “They look to be complementary roles that both require watching a lot of cricket and I may as well be doing that based in Adelaide as based in Canberra.”However, questions might be asked about Cox’s continuation as selector since Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of the panel, is also involved with South Australia as a board member. The shuffling of selectors Hilditch, Cox, David Boon and Merv Hughes to watch as many domestic games as possible may be hampered, so will the rotation for overseas tours.”Quite possibly [there will be obstacles to keeping both jobs], there will be some times when I need to be back here at the Adelaide Oval and we’ll need to manage that over the season, plus the issue of having two selectors based in Adelaide,” Cox said. The likes of Marsh, Greg Chappell, Wayne Phillips, Andrew Sincock and Jamie Siddons haven’t had the best of times while on coaching assignments with South Australia, but Cox is nonetheless confident.”Yes it is [a big job], but I don’t know … I think South Australia have made some positive moves. The squad they’ve set-up for this season looks quite strong,” Cox said. South Australia last won a first-class competition in 1995-96, and they haven’t made it to a final since then, nor won any limited-overs titles.”I know a lot of people are expecting there to be pain, and but I don’t know if there has to be – there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be aiming to be successful side and winning trophies over the next few years.”To “plug the gap” between age-level teams to grade and then state and national levels is a goal Cox highlighted. South Australia’s under-17 and under-19 teams have performed consistently well even as their senior side has faltered. “I will be having a look at everything,” Cox said. “This role goes right down to the grass roots, all the steps along the pathway to the state side and then the national side and if there are gaps in that pathway I want to work to plug them.”

ScorecardAt the end of the teams’ first innings of this match, any of the several hundred spectators could be excused for giving a hollow laugh at any suggestion that Nottinghamshire, who started the game at the top of the Division One table, might finish as County Champions. Their innings, against bowling that was no more than average in quality, was reminiscent of the march of the lemmings, as one batsman after another perished to strokes they doubtless now feel ashamed of.So Surrey are well on course for their first Championship victory of the season, though even they may concede their rolling of Notts for 218 in their first innings was due more to a dismal batting performance than to any outstanding performance of their own. Only when they had put the home side in a second time did they really start to show the vibrancy and self-belief of a winning team. And for a while the Notts second-wicket pair showed enough fight to arouse hopes of a real battle on the final day.Surrey did not begin the day auspiciously: 356 for 7 overnight, they lost Chris Jordan to the fourth ball without addition. Darren Pattison got the ball to lift and the result was a comfortable catch to first slip.They still had batting – of sorts – to come, though, and it was entertaining. Saqlain Mushtaq and Jade Dernbach both applied ‘block and slog’ tactics, with basic defence being supplemented by moments of extreme violence. Saqlain soon hit Pattinson for six over long-on, and ran to 50 off 66 balls before driving a return catch to the bowler.Last man Pedro Collins, who has been a total nonentity with the bat for Surrey this season, excelled himself today with 6 runs off 14 balls, which allowed Dernbach off successive deliveries to step back and deposit Graeme Swann over the wide long-on boundary with two terrific yahoos. He finished unbeaten on 16; Surrey reached 403, the highest by any team at Trent Bridge this season, and the only bowler who would take any pleasure in his figures was Pattinson with 5 for 72.The overall verdict on both the Nottinghamshire batting and the Surrey bowling might be: strong on entertainment but ultimately weak in discipline. The Surrey bowling is more renowned for pace than accuracy, and this enabled Will Jefferson to get off to a flier, mainly at the expense of the erratic Dernbach. He flirted unwisely at some deliveries outside the off stump, but raced to 31 off the first 21 balls he faced. Finally, groping forward again, he was caught at the wicket off Matt Nicholson for 42 off 39 balls; 60 for 1. He was Nicholson’s 400th first-class victim.The score at lunch was 64 for 1, but the second ball after the break accounted for Mark Wagh (3), caught at second slip off one from Nicholson that bounced. Notts continued to push along aggressively at more than four an over, with even Matt Wood, who had started quite solidly, starting to open up. But both he and Adam Voges, for 38 and 33 respectively, were caught down the leg side off misdirected balls from the fortunate Dernbach; Voges had already been dropped in the slips off Nicholson when 24. When Chris Read (5) shouldered arms and was bowled by Chris Jordan, Nottinghamshire were 146 for 5.Most of the batsmen thus far had given their wickets away, and this trend continued as, just before tea, Samit Patel culpably took a wild heave at part-time off-spinner Matthew Spriegel and skied a catch for Jonathan Batty to collect in the region of point – his fourth of the innings. Mark Ealham (12) was perhaps unlucky, bowled behind his legs by Nicholson. But, with the follow-on becoming an increasing threat, the shots of Swann (33), holing out on the leg boundary off Saqlain just after having swept him riskily for six, and Andre Adams, skying the same bowler to extra cover, were even more culpable.The innings closed for 218, with most of the dismissals brought about by an apparent suicide pact. Collins, the most consistent of the pace bowlers, failed to take a wicket; the main beneficiaries of the home team’s largesse were the more erratic Dernbach (2 wickets) and Nicholson(3), and the wily Saqlain (also 3). Surrey, after starting the match bottom of the division, may have felt the confusion of a mediocre gambler finding himself with a full house, but managed to convey successfully their wish to indulge in a follow-on.Christmas was still not over, as with only a leg-bye on the board Jefferson was bowled by Dernbach via the inside edge. Suddenly Surrey were bowling with real purpose and self-belief; similarly Nottinghamshire had lost their cavalier abandon and were looking nervously over their shoulders to find their backs to the wall.Strangely, there followed the best cricket of the match so far. Wood and Wagh decided to knuckle down and fight it out; Collins, Dernbach and Jordan produced some superb bowling of genuine pace and hostility, and with greater accuracy too. At last we had the sight of two teams rising to the challenge, giving no quarter and engaging in a tense battle for supremacy and pride. It was only spoilt, for Nottinghamshire, in the penultimate over when Wagh tried to leg-glance Collins and was taken by the keeper for 19; 46 for 2.Some intriguing questions should be answered on the final day. Will Nottinghamshire drag themselves out of the pit they dug for themselves and force an honourable draw? Will Surrey be able to seize the day and record their first Championship win of the season? And when these are answered, what effect will this match have on the future progress of the two sides this season? This may well prove to be one of the most significant matches of the 2008 Championship.

Ahead of Ireland’s clash against Namibia – the Intercontinental Cup leaders – their captain, William Porterfield, has welcomed back a number of key players and is ready for the challenge of trying to lead his team into the final.As it stands, Namibia are odds-on to make it to the final, with 102 points – six ahead of Kenya who are in second place. Ireland are down in fourth position on 72 points but, crucially, have a game in hand; if they secure the maximum 40 points from the last two matches (they face Kenya later this month), they’ll be through to the final.It is a tall ask, but Porterfield remains confident his side have what it takes. “We have pretty much a full-strength squad, which is a great boost for us,” he said. “There is great variation in our batting and bowling. We are fortunate to have a number of left-handers in the batting line-up. No-one enjoys bowling to a right-left partnership so that is certainly an advantage for us.”Also, our bowling attack has variation. It’s good to have big Boyd [Rankin] back. He has been playing well for Warwickshire lately and he always offers something different. His extra height gives him more bounce and that could be crucial on the good batting track in Namibia.”Having Trent [Johnston] back in the squad is good news for us – it’s a real boost to the strength of the squad given what he can do with both bat and ball. He enjoys the four-day format and his experience will be invaluable to me as captain. I’ve learned a lot about the four-day game playing for Gloucestershire but I will also be drawing on Trent’s experience as well as others in the team.”With the likes of Kyle McCallan, Andrew White and Kevin O’Brien, there will be no shortage of experience for Porterfield to lean on, though there are also a number of new faces keen to demonstrate their potential, not least the talented trio of Gary Wilson, Andrew Poynter and Phil Eaglestone.For all their confidence, however, Ireland are facing the tournament’s in-form team who are unbeaten in their six matches.”Namibia are a good side. They haven’t lost a game in this year’s cup and it won’t be easy to win. But if we just concentrate on doing what we do well and play to the best of our ability, the result should look after itself,” said Porterfield. “This is a must-win game for us. Then we have to go to Nairobi and beat Kenya as well. To win the Intercontinental Cup for the third time in a row would be massive for us. We know what it feels like to win and we are hungry for more success.”This is a big year ahead for us. Apart from the Intercontinental Cup, we will play some ODIs in Nairobi against Kenya and Zimbabwe and then in 2009 we have the World Cup Qualifier and the ICC World Twenty20 so there will be plenty of opportunities for us.”Play gets underway on Friday in Windhoek.

Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of the national selection panel, has backed Rahul Dravid to come out of his prolonged form slump. Dravid has only two half-centuries in his previous 17 knocks but Srikkanth said Dravid was “just one innings away from regaining form”.”If you look at this series (the Tests against Australia), he made a match-saving half-century in the first innings in Bangalore and looked good during his 39 in Mohali,” Srikkanth told the . “It’s unfortunate that he could not build on starts.”With the retirements of the experienced Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, India are going through a transitional phase and Srikkanth was pleased with the performances of Amit Mishra and M Vijay, the two players handed their Test debuts during the series.Mishra finished with 14 wickets in three Tests, and his seven wickets in Mohali was instrumental in India’s win. “Mishra is a genuine legspinner who is not afraid to flight the ball,” he said. “As he gains in experience, he will develop greater variety.”Vijay, who was drafted in as an opener after Gautam Gambhir was banned for the final Test in Nagpur, played a couple of confident knocks to provide India solid starts. “Vijay is a correct batsman who can adapt to both forms of the game. He adds value with his fielding.”India have moved into the second spot after the success against Australia and Srikkanth said the next target was to take over the No. 1 ranking.