After six months of painstaking rehabilitation from knee surgery, Clay Smith is finally back in the national team fold and is determined to make an immediate impression.

Throughout his time on the sidelines, the 35-year-old has remained intimately involved with the squad ? travelling as assistant coach or manager on virtually all of their overseas tours and acting as a selector, but all the while plotting his return.

As easily Bermuda?s most prolific batsman for the past two years or more, Smith?s absence from the Island?s top six has been keenly felt ? with the likes of Daniel Morgan, Azeem Pitcher and Treadwell Gibbons jr sometimes threatening, but more often than not failing, to fill his sizeable shoes.

Coach Gus Logie said this week that Smith?s mental toughness and proven ability to score big hundreds in first-class cricket was an absolutely crucial addition to the team ahead of Bermuda?s first ever four-day Intercontinental Cup match, adding that his presence had already served to lift everybody?s spirits.

Irving Romaine has been retained as interim skipper on this latest trip ? primarily because Smith is still not 100 percent fit and will only play in the Intercontinental Cup game and not in any of the one-dayers.

There is no doubt in any of the players? minds, however, who the real boss is ? although Smith said yesterday he has no intention of undermining Romaine?s authority.

?I cannot deny that I?m looking forward to resuming the captaincy,? he said, just before saying goodbye to his family who had come to see him off.

?Sitting on the sidelines has actually given me a totally different perspective on my players and has helped me formulate ideas about which direction I want to take them when I?m back in charge.

?But as it stands, Irving is the captain and I?m just focussing on trying to get my knee totally right and also get myself in a decent condition to play cricket at an international level.

?Of course, if Irving seeks my advice then I will do everything I can to help him out. And if I see something on the field which I feel I should bring up, then of course I will not hesitate to speak up. But I?ve got to be conscious of the fact that there is a very fine line between giving advice when necessary and taking over the whole show, so I will let Irving get on with it for most part and run the show as he sees fit.?

The new Cleveland player/coach has only played a couple of club games so far this season, though to most observers, he looked in reasonably decent nick in spite of the long lay-off when batting for St. George?s in last week?s Cup Match, scoring a fluent 35 in the second innings.

The pain and swelling in his knee which persisted for around four months after the operation is now well and truly gone, he said, though despite a lot of work on the stationary bike and countless light-weight session, Smith admitted the knee was still some way from being back to its pre-operation strength.

?I?m very happy with the knee and as time has gone on, the more I have realised the importance of taking the rehab very slowly and methodically ? it has made a big difference,? he said.

?There is no more pain and running between the wickets is absolutely fine. If I am being honest though, I?ve still got some work to do on getting some power back into it because I?m not yet able to push off as quickly as I would like or change direction very well.

?At the moment, I will probably not play in any of the limited overs matches because they tend to be very intense and I?m not sure the knee is ready for that level of work.

?But it will be interesting to see how the knee stands up to the four-day game. I?ll probably spend most of my time at slip or at short leg ? but if I can get through four days on the bounce, then I?m confident that it will not be long before I?m back playing limited overs matches as well.?