Hello again, Bermuda. The last time we talked it was at the end of the T20 World Cup qualifiers. The tournament may have ended disappointingly but what we players took from it was renewed pride in representing the country thanks to the wholehearted support you gave throughout — even when our fate took a turn for the worse in the final match against Canada.

Tonight at 9.30am Bermuda time we are back at it again for another international tournament. This time the longer format of 50 overs, and a long, long way away from home here in Malaysia. If you cannot be with us in person, we want you to be with us in spirit. Trust me, the players do feel and respond to it.

So continue to support us; it is definitely felt when we have it. Obviously any cricket that we play, it’s tough cricket. We play in a lot of different conditions and there are a lot of unknowns. It’s always going to be tough — every game is important and just as big as the next. I know a lot of the boys love the support, so please keep it coming. We’re going to put our best foot forward and give it everything we’ve got. If we do all the right things and give it all we’ve got, we’ll come home with a positive result.

I know the immediate focus is on Italy, but first I wanted to address our preparations and how they were disrupted because of the passport issues that kept six of us at home instead of participating fully in the India training camp. I’m not here to blame anyone; there’s enough of that to go around. As players we focus on controlling the controllables, and this was something that was out of our hands. Ideally, we wanted to get as much match practice for all 14 or 15 as possible. The guys have put that behind us now, and we’ve had three days with the full group together. So, yeah, everyone’s in pretty good shape, we’ve put that hiccup behind us and are just looking forward to the games ahead.

It was nice to get some match practice on Malaysian turf. A few of us have been here before, so we have some experience. There are some similarities from previous visits and some things that are a bit new. Some guys bowled nicely in the warm-up game against Bahrain while some got a nice hit in the middle.

No one likes to lose any game of cricket, but I wouldn’t say I’m too fussed about the result. Not having six players in India for the camp and those three practice games meant we had to prioritise getting them on the park in the only scheduled warm-up, just to get themselves going. The match being reduced to 30 overs because of the ground being booked for a later event has to be taken into consideration as well. But I think we got out of it what we wanted and we’re pretty happy going into the first game of the tournament.

Chris Douglas took a knock while batting, but is available for selection. In practice matches like that, it’s better to be safe than sorry. With a big tournament and a schedule that’s pretty jam-packed, you want to give yourself the best chance to have all players available for selection. Chris has pulled up good. For those who know him and his character, he would want to be out there on Thursday morning. So everyone’s available; now it’s about seeing what the conditions are in the morning, picking that final XI and getting kick-started.

The conditions are extremely hot and the humidity is high. Coming from where we come from, we experience hot conditions and humidity, but it is always different in other parts of the world. We’re managing it as players, members of staff, physios — everyone’s on board. And we most definitely can’t use the conditions as an excuse because we knew where we were coming. It’s just about managing it and making sure that it doesn't affect us negatively.

The Bahrain match is behind us. It was good to play against them, an opponent we had not seen before. Who knows? If both teams progress to the Super Six, we will see them again, and this time it would be for something more meaningful. But we’ve got to focus on our first three matches — Italy, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Italy are a good team, a strong team. They have got a few seasoned pros in there like former Northamptonshire Gareth Berg, their captain, and Wayne Madsen, who played for Derbyshire. We’ve had some information on them and we’re pretty confident.

The last time we started a tournament, we started with a big bang and I think it sent a message. That’s our aim again: start this tournament fast, throw the first punch, be positive. If we apply ourselves and apply our skills like I know we can, I see no reason why the result won’t be positive for us.

• Delray Rawlins was talking to Dexter Smith. Viewers can find a live video feed to tonight’s match atICC.tv and a live blog will be up and running on royalgazette.com