The whole of Sussex will be behind James Kirtley if he takes the field for his Test debut this morning.

It will be a reward for his skill and dedication to his craft of out-swing bowling that has made him one of the most consistent wicket takers in county cricket over the last five years.

He is a role model for the other Sussex bowlers and everyone has been particularly impressed by the way he has overcome the various difficulties that have arisen in his career and emerged a better bowler each time.

When he was cited for throwing after making his one-day international debut, the improvements he made to his action arguably gave him more pace and control.

But when he was picked again for last winter's tour to Australia, he rather suffered at the hands of Australia's mighty batting line-up and was, mistakenly in my opinion, left out of the World Cup squad.

To put that disappointment behind him and start this season on fire goes to show what a fighter he is. Let's hope that he can exploit the relative weakness of Zimbabwe's batsmen to establish himself in the England side once and for all.

England's gain is, of course, Sussex's loss and in the mean time we have two vitally important games to win at Horsham.

The players always enjoy the Horsham Cricket Festival. The ground encompasses many of the classic attributes of the quintessential English club, with it's church and fine array of trees lining the boundary.

People are always in good spirits here and the players are just that bit more relaxed than usual.

After a very tense and largely disappointing start, Horsham may just be the tonic we need to pep up the season.

The weather has spoilt the last few games here and with a dubious forecast, courtesy of the MET office, everyone is keeping their fingers crossed for five days of uninterrupted cricket.

The Nottinghamshire side we are up against are full of quality. In Usman Afzaal, they have a player good enough to have played Test cricket recently and Chris Read, the wicketkeeper, may well get his chance to play for England again soon.

There have been good reports about Bilal Shafayat too. He seems a confident young batsman with the calibre to have scored prolifically for the England under-19s. Steve Elworthy, the South African quick, will lead their bowling attack.

They have improved as an outfit since we last played them in 2001 and we expect a decent battle on what will be a good cricket wicket.

But what might turn out to be the most intriguing battle of the season will be between the two leg-spinners on show.

Our own little wizard, Mushtaq Ahmed, will be up against Stuart MacGill, who has just returned from Australia's tour of the Caribbean.

Whist Mushy gets most of his wickets from his variations, with a googly that he disguises brilliantly with his whirlwind action, MacGill likes to give the ball a big rip and is probably the biggest turner of the ball in world cricket (Shane Warne included).

How well the respective batsmen play each bowler may well determine the outcome of the game.

When you consider that there is a dearth of good English spinners available to watch in county cricket, to have two maestros playing in the same contest should get the pulses racing of even the most sluggish Sussex spectators.

Thursday May 22