Porterfield to lead Combined XI

Ireland cricket team captain William Porterfield will lead the International Cricket Council (ICC) Combined Associate and Affiliate XI in a three-day warm-up match against England at the ICC Global Cricket Academy ground in Dubai Sports City starting on Saturday. The England team will then go on to play Pakistan in a three-Test series from January 17. The Andrew Strauss-led England team are due to arrive here today to get acclimatised to the conditions in the UAE. They will also play a three-day match against a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI from January 11 to 13 at the ICC Global Cricket Academy ground. Speaking to Gulf News, Mohammad Salman Hanif, Operations Manager of the ICC Global Cricket Academy, said: "The match between Combined Associate and Affiliate XI and England will be held at the Oval ground No 1. It will be a day match. The Combined XI squad have already arrived here for training. All the practice sessions of the England team will also be held at the Global Cricket Academy." The Combined XI was selected by ICC Global Cricket Academy coaches Mudassar Nazar and Dayle Hadlee, along with Richard Done, the ICC's High Performance manager. A 12-member squad was finalised from a list of 24 outstanding performers in the ICC's Associate and Affiliate matches. UAE's star all-rounder Saqib Ali is among the 12 players. Ali was a member of the ICC Intercontinental Cup dream team of the year in 2008. He scored 690 runs from his seven matches at an average of 57.50. The Combined XI is made up of four players from Ireland, two from Scotland, three from Afghanistan, two from Namibia and one from UAE. Commenting on being appointed the captain, Porterfield said: "It will be a great honour for me to lead out the Associate and Affiliate team against the number one team in the longer format of the game." Team Combined Associate and Affiliate XI: William Porterfield (capt), George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin and Paul Stirling (all Ireland), Saqib Ali (UAE), Kyle Coetzer and Majid Haq (both Scotland), Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Nabi and Mohammad Shahzad (all Afghanistan), Christi Viljoen and Craig Williams (both Namibia).