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While the cricket world concentrated on the first Test at Lord’s, a few miles to the south, one of domestic cricket’s oldest rivalries was attracting an unforeseen outbreak of handbags at two paces.Middlesex against Surrey does not come close to being in the top flight of sporting rivalries. Often spectators have to pinch themselves to remember that what they are watching is an all-London battle rather than just another county game.Fred Titmus’s move from Lord’s to The Oval at the end of the 1976 season was greeted with a few tuts and general surprise (he redeemed himself by returning home in 1979). But Mark Ramprakash’s defection at the end of 2000 was far more acrimonious, and on his return to Lord’s he was booed to the wicket. The rancour persists. When he reached his fifty at Lord’s earlier this month one member turned to another and asked if Ramprakash had been forgiven. A cry of “bastard” aimed in Ramprakash’s direction from nearby in the pavilion seconds later answered that.After that match – which Surrey lost – Middlesex reported what they viewed as suspicious treatment of the ball by Surrey’s bowlers to the ECB. The authorities ruled that there was no evidence to support the claim, but the ill-feeling was there for all to see when they meet last week at The Oval.Tempers spilt over in public on Friday. Play had been delayed by a combination of heavy overnight rain, a broken water super-sopper, and then in the penultimate over of the day words were exchanged between Jon Batty, Surrey’s captain, and David Nash, the Middlesex wicketkeeper. As the pair squared up, the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation was ended by the swift intervention of Jeff Evans, the umpire, who zoomed in from square leg.The match ended in a draw, and the ramifications of the standoff will no doubt become clear in due course. But there will be an added element of spice when the two sides meet again in front of around 15,000 at Lord’s in July 15 in the Twenty20 Cup.

A surprisingly elated Shoaib Malik credited his senior players after Pakistan completed a comfortable clean sweep of the Mobilink Cup against Zimbabwe. Pakistan, led by Malik, went on a lap of honour around Sheikhupura Stadium after their win, an unusually exuberant celebration as they were expected to win 5-0. But Malik had personal reasons for smiling, having been adjudged the Man of the Series after scoring 158 runs with two half-centuries and topping the bowling charts with 11 wickets.Pakistan tried nine new players during the series, but Malik insisted the support they received from the senior players was a major factor behind their success. “We tried a lot of new faces in the series and it is not easy for young players to perform right from the start,” Malik said. “However, I’m thankful to the senior players who helped these debutants make their entry into international cricket that much easier. It is due to that the changes worked so effectively.”Ever since their bowlers received a mauling in the first ODI in Karachi, Zimbabwe have opted to bat after winning the toss. Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s stand-in captain, carried on the trend here, but he was left ruing it from the start as Sohail Tanvir and Abdur Rauf, one of four debutants, utilised overcast conditions to good effect. Malik was surprised by Masakadza’s decision and confirmed he would have bowled first in order to give his bowlers the chance to make an impression.”With overcast conditions and a relatively unknown pitch, I would’ve bowled had I won the toss,” he said. “Even though we had helpful conditions, credit must also go out to our young fast bowlers, of which two were making their debut, for bowling in the right areas.”Masakadza, disappointed with his team’s batting, blamed Zimbabwe’s lack of all-round skills for the convincing loss. “We failed to capitalise on good, match-winning positions,” Masakadza said. “We could’ve won at least three matches on this tour but let good positions slip too easily.”We weren’t thrashed or outplayed by the opposition in any of the matches so it all comes down to taking half-chances and crossing the finish line. We need to learn how to finish things off.”

Malik, despite the win, said the team had a lot to learn and implement before the tough series against Australia. “There’s a lot of difference between ODIs and Test matches,” Malik said. “Just because we have performed well in ODIs does not mean we can be complacent for the [Test] series against Australia. We need to improve our fielding and running between the wickets because those two departments of the game can be vital against a strong team like Australia.”Having been unable to bowl out Zimbabwe in three of the five games, Malik pointed to his side’s “lack of killer instinct” as one of the areas they needed to work on. “We were in positions to get Zimbabwe dismissed cheaply, like today, but we let our guard down and let opportunities slip. Luckily, we went on to win the matches so it did not come back to haunt us but we still need to improve on that.”Our motto is to keep fighting as a unit and with the series win, the team is confident of facing Australia.”

You hear the bowling machine clank, hear the ball thud onto bat, and voices echo around the walls. You see Anil Kumble calmly compose himself and hear him answer every question patiently. There’s a calm about the indoor nets at the MCG, an air of assurance almost. All until Ricky Ponting walks in, rattles answers as if he’s at an examination, laughs, and fills the room with an energy that was missing earlier. And all this without a microphone.Both are tremendously aggressive cricketers but while Kumble exudes a quiet sort of energy, Ponting is more animated. It’s a possible sign for the series: Australia going all out for the kill, India preferring the silent ambush; one side intent on coming out swinging, the other hoping for the crucial, fatal, counter-punch. You feel it in the answers: one gushing about the quality of his side, the other saying, wait and watch.Both are colossal figures for their respective sides – one arguably the country’s greatest bowler, the other being mentioned in the same breath as the Don [Bradman] – and it’s fitting that they will walk out to toss in a gigantic arena that is the MCG. Kumble’s priority was predictable: “put runs on the board”. He’s spent most of his career traveling with a batting line-up that has unraveled abroad. He himself is a different bowler when he has the comfort of runs on the board. He thrives on applying pressure, revels in bogging the opposition down. He’s also clear that he’s “first a bowler and then a captain”. One cannot afford to come in the way of the other.Ponting’s career has coincided with Australia’s golden age. He knows the conditions, knows the pitfalls, more importantly knows how to win. He holds forth on the Melbourne weather, the pitch and the conditions. Occasionally he throws in an ‘aw, look mate’ but never does he let up on the speed. He’s spent the previous two hours in an optional net session, joined by around ten kids frolicking around. He mainly faced throw downs but the Christmas cheer was unmistakable – his team-mates’ children having a go in the side nets.Ponting is mostly dead-certain. The pitch isn’t just damp, it’s “very, very damp”. He remembers Shane Warne’s dictum for the MCG – “If it seams, it spins” – but knows he possesses the ammunition of work around it. “Mitchell Johnson impressed everybody against Sri Lanka. Stuart Clark’s Test record at the moment is as good as any going around. I’m very confident we’re going to take 20 wickets in every Test we play this summer.”Occasionally they both echo the same sentiment. India will first try and plot a means to get 20 wickets but Kumble is well aware of the need to keep the batsmen quiet in case they hit a roadblock (“We have plans and bowlers to hit the right areas”). Ponting also knows, from past experience, that Australia will have to refrain from over-attacking. “Last time [in 2003-04] we did over-attack some of their players just the little bit … If you look to the way we played against India last time [2004], we bowled a bit differently.” He knows the dangers of a bouncer barrage. “It’s not how many you bowl, but when you use them.”And just once in a while they drop their guard. Ponting, for all his aggression, knows the importance of a tempered approach. He feels they over-attacked in Adelaide last time around and “probably let them score a few too many runs”. Kumble, for all his guarded responses, bursts through forcefully towards the end: “I am positive that we will be able to do well here on this tour. I don’t see any reason why we can’t win.” No Indian team has managed to do so in the last 60 years, and this one is up against it, but Kumble will know a thing or two about scaling barriers.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:13