Trent Johnston is a major injury worry for the rest of Ireland’s tour of UAE and Bangladesh with an elbow strain.

The Ireland captain took no part in Ireland’s final day Inter-Continental Cup victory against the Emirates in the Sheik Zayed Stadium and will not bowl in the two one-day games against an Abu Dhabi XI on Wednesday and Essex two days later.

Speaking while watching Ireland toil in the field, ahead of their nine wickets success just two overs before the start of the last hour, Johnston said: "I saw a specialist last night because my elbow and upper (bowling) arm was so swollen. The last three balls I bowled yesterday were the most painful I've bowled in 20 years.

"It is a strained tricep muscle and I have been given strong anti-inflammatory tablets and told to rest. It is not affecting my batting so I may play as a batsman on Wednesday and then let Porty loose against Essex on Friday."

William Porterfield was the proudest man in Abu Dhabi today as he achieved his ambition of captaining the senior international team to victory on his first day in the job. He admitted it took much longer than he expected but it all worked out well in the end.

"We were fully expecting to wrap up the game in the first session but it proved to be a bit tougher. Their captain batted really well and they got stuck in. Last year the pitch was up and down here on the last day so I went with the seamers at one end and Kyle (McCallan) at the other, so that was the reason for giving Greg (Thompson) only one over before lunch."

It was to be Thompson, Ireland’s Under 19 captain at last month’s World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, who was to get a double breakthrough, but only in the 52nd over of the day as the obdurate Zahid Shah and his captain, Saqib Ali held up Ireland in a eighth wicket stand of 159, bettered only once by an opposition side, some 54 years ago.

Shah faced 129 balls yesterday and scored from only three of them - two fours and a huge six off Kyle McCallan - as he defended and left it to Saqib to score the runs and orchestrate the strike. Even turning down so many singles, the UAE skipper still reached 195 before he surrendered his wicket to Alex Cusack in the 123rd over of the innings.

"We always said that one wicket would bring two, though we didn’t think it would be two in two balls, but we stuck at it and worked hard," added Porterfield. "To get 20 wickets on such a flat wicket was going to be a good achievement, it didn’t break up much and we were just happy to get the last three wickets."

That left Ireland with the straightforward task of scoring 61 to win and although 17 year old debutant Paul Stirling was caught at the wicket off the bottom edge for 10, Porterfield with an unbeaten 40 eased his side the maximum 20 points victory and they remain on course to reach their third successive I-C Cup final in November.

For the 23 year old from Donemana, it was the perfect end to a memorable day.

"Stepping over the line this morning was a bit different, a good feeling. It was something I’ve always wanted to aspire to and I suppose when I started out, I didn’t believe I would really do it, but it was really nice. I was hitting the ball well in the nets and was disappointed to get out in the first innings. I just wanted to be there at the end and it worked out well."

Ireland still have four games to play in the competition, the next away to the Netherlands, starting on July 9 in Amsterdam.