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Michael Clarke has defended his decision to thrust the Test debutant Rob Quiney into No.3 against South Africa’s powerful pace attack, while Australia’s three most experienced batsmen will remain down the order. South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith is keen for his fast bowlers to exploit the lack of experience in Australia’s top order, with none of Ed Cowan, David Warner and Quiney having previously faced the South Africans in Test cricket.Clarke said he had considered batting at first drop himself but was reluctant to alter the middle order that had such success against India last summer, when Ricky Ponting, Clarke and Michael Hussey batted at Nos. 4, 5 and 6. Quiney will be Australia’s fourth Test No.3 since Ponting moved down the order during last year’s tour of Sri Lanka, following Shaun Marsh, Usman Khawaja and Shane Watson.Combined with the fact that Warner and Cowan, both of whom are still making their way in Test cricket, will open the innings, it leaves Australia potentially vulnerable against Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, the best pace line-up in the world today. Clarke said although he could have promoted himself up the order to first drop, he believed Quiney was better suited to the role, given that he usually opens for Victoria.”I have actually [thought about batting at No.3], I’ve spoken to Justin Langer and I had some time talking to Ricky about it over the last few days as well,” Clarke said. “We think at the moment Rob is best suited to No.3 for this Test match. Hopefully he performs really well and grabs hold of his opportunity. I’ve said for a while now it doesn’t bother me where I bat. Ricky and Michael Hussey are in the exact same boat. They don’t really care where they bat, it’s about what’s best suited for the team.”We thought our middle order played really well together last year, all last summer. We’re looking to do the same thing. We think Rob’s got plenty of experience in first-class cricket opening the batting and batting at No.3. He’s probably used to that position a lot more than me for the start of this series. We can assess as Test matches go on, as time goes on. I really hope Rob grabs his opportunity with both hands and owns that No.3 position for Australia.”The lack of a stable first drop is one of the vexing issues facing Clarke and the coach Mickey Arthur, after Marsh and Khawaja both showed encouraging signs in the position only to slip out of form and out of the team. And Watson, who would have batted at No.3 in this match had he been fit, is not necessarily an automatic inclusion in the side except as an allrounder.In Australia’s past 25 Test matches, only one century has been scored at No.3 – Marsh’s debut hundred in Sri Lanka – and collectively Australia’s batsmen have averaged 28.38 at first drop in that time. Meanwhile, in the same period, Clarke has piled up 1981 runs at 46.06 while coming in down the order at No.5. Smith said he hoped Australia’s lack of top-order experience and form would play into South Africa’s hands.”The goal is to have our bowlers expose the top order as much as possible,” Smith said. “Everyone wants to have a team three-down as quickly as possible and really give yourself the best opportunity to bowl people out. That inexperience … is hopefully something that we can exploit. That would be nice, because then we will have Australia under pressure.”We’ve done our preparation, we’ve had a look at them. A few of us know Bob [Quiney] through the IPL and got a look at him the other day, even though the wicket will be very different here. We’ve done some planning and hopefully our bowlers have proven they’ve got the skill to execute, hopefully that will happen again in the next five days.”

Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal have long been mainstays of Bangladesh’s batting, but Tamim has usually been in charge of providing the momentum at the top with Shakib finishing things from No. 5.In the T20s, though, with Shakib having been bumped up to No. 3, the pair will be in charge of providing a good start. While the move potentially gives two of Bangladesh’s best batsmen more time in the middle, the team will have plenty to worry about if they are both dismissed early. That, though, has happened only once in seven matches in the last three months – against Ireland.Shakib has so far batted at his new position in six T20Is and once during the unofficial matches in Port-of-Spain, and said on Friday that he’s comfortable in the new role. “If I bat in the top order, I will get more chances to score runs and more chances to face balls. I am looking forward to batting at No. 3,” he said in Colombo.Though his average is 17.71 in the seven innings batting at No. 3, he has just about done the job expected of him in several of those games – either by batting past the halfway stage to leave the team in a decent position or by staying till the end in chases.Shakib said one of the keys to Bangladesh’s success will be temperament. “There’ll be some tough situations but we know how to handle it,” he said. “The boys have been playing cricket constantly for a year so they’ll understand how to handle the pressure and if we can do this, we’ll win the matches.”Bangladesh have a mediocre record in World Twenty20s so far, but will be boosted by Tamim’s resurgence as a Twenty20 opener, which has come about after he began properly understanding what his role is. A good run of recent form has seen him make his three highest Twenty20 scores in his previous four innings.”I have been playing quite a few T20s recently, around 15-20 in the last month or so,” Tamim said. “I think I am in very good shape, I understand the game better than before. I hope I can carry it into the World T20 and perform well.”Earlier I was struggling to pace my innings. I used to attack from ball one. Now I think I am batting more cleverly – attacking as well as picking up the singles. That’s how you should bat in T20s.”Bangladesh step up their preparations with a practice match against Zimbabwe on Saturday and are expected to play their best XI leading up to their first match in the tournament proper against New Zealand on September 21.

Wayne Parnell, the South Africa seamer, is unlikely to be sanctioned by his board over allegations that he took recreational drugs, CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul has said. Parnell had failed a drugs test after being detained by Mumbai police following a raid on a party in May.Faul questioned the handling of the matter by the Indian police. “To take action against Wayne will be next to impossible at the moment because the whole process over there has been shambolic,” he told . “The police are talking to some sections of the media but not to the cricket boards. The whole testing procedure was not done according to the standards that normally apply in sport and Wayne would be able to contest any action we take with absolute ease.”Parnell has insisted he is innocent, claiming he “was at the wrong place at the wrong time”. Rahul Sharma, the India legspinner and Parnell’s Pune Warriors team-mate in the IPL, had also tested positive, but denied taking any drugs.The Indian board has contacted the police for details of the specific test reports, and the Indian police have yet to lay any charges on the two cricketers.

ScorecardPhil Jaques, pictured celebrating a comeback century for Yorkshire in the Championship in April, is proving himself a vital component in their T20 season•Getty Images

Yorkshire’s coach Jason Gillespie would no doubt jump on such talk as unwisely premature but the county’s reinvention as a force in Twenty20 is beginning to look like a credible story. Against a Nottinghamshire side who had made themselves strong favourites to finish top of the North Group in this year’s FriendsLife t20, they won their sixth match from seven completed and did so comfortably.In a match mercifully spared any rain, Yorkshire won by six wickets with 14 balls to spare after Notts had finished with a total that always looked below par despite 70 from Adam Voges. Where the home side failed to provide meaningful support to a fine innings from their captain, Yorkshire came up with what was required to build around an unbeaten 58 in 47 balls from another Australian, the opener Phil Jaques, who survived one chance on 38 but was otherwise flawless.Adam Lyth (33 off 21 balls) and Joe Root (27 off 16) supplied the thrust that took Yorkshire to 99 in the 12th over before they lost a second wicket and although the cheap dismissals of the middle-order danger men, Jonny Bairstow and David Miller, gave Notts a glimmer of hope of pulling off an unlikely victory, Gary Ballance snuffed it out with 26 off 13 deliveries, ending the contest with two sixes in a row off the left-arm spinner, Graeme White.The victory guaranteed Yorkshire’s place in the quarterfinals irrespective of what happens in their last two group matches, against Lancashire at Old Trafford on Friday evening and at home to Derbyshire on Sunday. Nottinghamshire, who take on Derbyshire in Derby on Friday and wrap up against Leicestershire at home, need only to win one of those to clinch their place in the last eight, although Yorkshire now look likelier to top the group.Yorkshire have never qualified for finals day and this is their first time past the group stage since 2007. They are well placed, too, in their bid to secure a quick return to the First Division when the Championship resumes next week, which suggests the winter shake-up that saw Gillespie and Paul Farbrace recruited to a management team headed by Martyn Moxon was worth the upheaval.The fresh thinking introduced by the new faces brought instant results as Yorkshire won a pre-season t20 tournament against strong opposition in Barbados and Gillespie has clearly done a very effective job in harnessing the confidence acquired there. With the valuable addition to their armoury of Gillespie’s compatriot, the left-arm quick Mitchell Starc — the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 16 — Yorkshire’s bowling now has an edge to it that was previously missing, while Farbrace has been credited with much-improved displays in the field.Given the threat of thunderstorms, and the possibility of a Duckworth-Lewis target similar to the one that left them chasing 42 in four overs after a long stoppage against Lancashire on Tuesday, Notts might have considered bowling first a reasonable option when the coin fell in Chris Read’s favour.He might have wished he had when Riki Wessels pulled the opening ball of the innings, delivered by the part-time off-spinner Joe Root, straight to Rich Pyrah at midwicket. or a Notts batting line-up missing their star turn after Alex Hales failed a fitness test on a thigh injury, it was a poor start from which they were slow to recover.The first two overs yielded only two runs. Indeed the powerplay overs were a stop-start affair, Notts scoring 31 from two of them — 16 from Iain Wardlaw’s first over, 15 from Root’s second — but only eight from the other four as Mitchell Starc, the Australian seamer, demonstrated again what a valuable signing he has been by conceding six from his first two overs and Pyrah began his contribution by claiming the significant wicket of Michael Lumb with his first ball as the former Yorkshire batsman top-edged a fulsome off-drive. After Hales, Notts see Lumb as their most destructive batsman.Pyrah, disciplined and accurate and offering little in the way of pace, bowled through at a restrictive five an over and Notts, looking to hurry things along more at the other end, lost both Samit Patel and James Taylor cheaply, which only added to the suspicion that this was a disappointing effort.Voges held things together superbly until Starc uprooted his middle stump with the first ball of the last over but no one provided the substantial support he required. It was the Western Australian’s 10th half-century in this format but from 57 balls a relatively measured effort but needed some effective bashing at the other end to give it added value.Where Notts lost a wicket to Yorkshire’s first ball, their opponents began with Lyth stroking two boundaries off White, bowling for the first time in this year’s competition, and those two deliveries set the tone for the innings.After Lyth had pulled Darren Pattinson over midwicket for six, Yorkshire were 46 without loss at the end of the powerplay and though they lost Lyth in the seventh over they were in sight of the winning line with only half the overs completed after Andy Carter went for 19 in the 10th over, Jacques taking 11 off him with six over square leg and Root, well into his stride, hitting eight.Root was out when he drove Patel to Voges at extra cover and Jaques, on 38, was dropped by Mullaney at deep square leg off White when he top-edged a pull. Given that Bairstow, smartly stumped by Read, and Miller, caught on the ropes sweeping Voges’s left-arm spin, were both then out in quick succession, it might have been a significant moment. But, all things considered, probably not.

Sri Lanka Cricket is set to tighten up on players’ interaction with the media. From now on, Sri Lanka players will have to obtain prior permission from SLC CEO Ajith Jayasekera before speaking with any media personnel. A letter to this effect is to be drafted by Jayasekera, in consultation with SLC lawyer Harsha Amarasekera, and sent to all the contracted players.A spokesman for SLC said that this regulation may also be included as a clause in the players’ contracts. The players are expected to sign their new contracts before the start of the series against Pakistan, which begins on June 1.The executive committee of SLC had also decided to write a “mild” letter to former captain Kumar Sangakkara, regarding an interview he had given to a newspaper, “reminding him of his obligations” and stressing “that such actions will not be tolerated in future”. Sangakkara had previously come under the scrutiny of the cricket administration in Sri Lanka, when he had delivered the MCC’s Spirit of Cricket Lecture in England, in which he has said that the establishment was run by “partisan cronies”.The SLC, meanwhile, it is understood, has to pay the players the remainder of their outstanding salaries, along with the dues from the Commonwealth Bank Series (played in Australia in February-March) and the Asia Cup (played in Bangladesh in March).

ScorecardRiki Wessels needs 16 more runs tomorrow to record his maiden first-class double-century•Getty Images

On sunny, summer weekends like this, Brighton is a favourite destination for pleasure-seeking tourists. Riki Wessels certainly enjoyed his seaside outing, making an unbeaten 184 and sharing a 171-run opening stand with Alex Hales as the visitors took a firm grip on proceedings at Hove.With Warwickshire extending their lead at the top of Division One, Nottinghamshire did their best to stay in touch, easing to 320 for 4 and laying a platform for what they can only hope will be a significant victory.Though the conditions were inviting, Wessels was outstanding after being promoted to open the innings. In a career that has so far promised more than it has delivered, Wessels’ progress this year is timely. Despite a broken finger that kept him out for a month he has now made almost as many runs in three games as he managed in 10 last year. Compact and powerful he drove sweetly when the bowlers overpitched, pulled firmly when they were too short and stoutly defended everything else. Without ever seeming strained he ticked along at a healthy rate hitting 30 fours and two sixes in the day.Alongside Hales the pair delivered Nottinghamshire’s first century opening stand since Bilal Shafayat and Will Jefferson put on 157 on this ground four years ago. After struggling for runs, along with many others earlier in the season, Hales returned to form with a fifty in his last game against Middlesex and looked in good order again today. Batting with supine grace – he seems to move in slow motion – he was patient early on before easing through the gears on his way to his highest Championship score of the season. He’ll face sprightlier attacks on spicier wickets but a strong summer from here will keep the England selectors interested.After Samit Patel finished off the Sussex innings with his fourth wicket, Monty Panesar should have been Sussex’s key man. Though he did finally remove Hales for 80, Panesar’s extra pace on the ball yielded less turn that Patel. He was neither penetrating nor parsimonious as Wessel’s in particular ensured he couldn’t keep the runs down. Twice Wessels hit him for six, the second of which crashed over the scaffolding by the press centre down the ground to bring up Wessels’ 150.The evening session did bring some joy for Sussex but not enough. Michael Lumb battled for 87 balls for 23 before slicing a drive to gully and then Chris Nash became a surprising double wicket-taker. Despite success with the ball this season, Nash’s entrance was delayed until the 76th over. He proved immediately what an oversight that was by removing Patel with his fifth delivery and James Taylor soon after. Nash extracted some alarming bounce at times which, given their position, probably pleased the visitors more than the home side.Though his scoring rate dipped as the day drew to a close, Wessels was fit and hungry enough to ensure he remained unbeaten at the close and will hope tomorrow can being at least 16 more for his maiden first-class double-hundred.The Hove crowd, missing the school groups of the day before, was a touch more lethargic but remained in good spirits. One punter took pity on Monty on the fine-leg boundary. With two overs to go he was offered a large glass of icy Pimm’s. On a day when there wasn’t much for him to cheer about, it brought a welcome smile to Panesar’s face.

Faf du Plessis will be joining Somerset – subject to all necessary clearance – as their second overseas player for the FLt20. Du Plessis, the 27-year-old South Africa allrounder, will replace Chris Gayle, who has pulled out of his deal with the club in order to make himself available for the West Indies.As things stand, Somerset hope that du Plessis will be available for the duration of the competition. He may, however, be involved in South Africa’s five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe that runs until June 24. Somerset’s T20 campaign begins on June 13, meaning du Plessis could miss as many as five games.”We have signed him subject to clearance,” Brian Rose, Somerset’s director of cricket, told ESPNcricinfo. “We are waiting to hear whether he will be required by South Africa but, even if he is, we are unlikely to sign another overseas player.”

USA Cricket Association president Gladstone Dainty and other incumbent members of the board are favoured to win re-election today in the USACA general elections. A lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction for the elections to be delayed was dismissed in the District Court in California on Friday.It means that 32 out of 47 USACA member leagues who had their voting privileges stripped by the USACA board in February will remain unable to take part in the election. The majority of the 15 eligible leagues are supporters of Dainty. Consequently, they are also highly likely to favor treasurer John Thickett and vice presidents Michael Gale and Rafey Syed who have all reportedly sided with Dainty in recent board decisions.The other position up for a vote today is executive secretary. John Aaron, who resigned from his position on November 30 in protest at the board’s stalling tactics to overstay their three-year term, is running against Kenwyn Williams. Due to the fact that the majority of the board voted to uphold Dainty’s suspension of Aaron last year, it is believed the pro-Dainty leagues will vote against Aaron. Williams has vowed on his campaign’s Facebook page to enforce a “gag order” on all USACA players, team officials and administrators from speaking with the media if he is elected executive secretary.Votes will be presented and tabulated at the USACA annual general meeting which takes place today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.Candidates
Gladstone Dainty (incumbent), Mahammad Qureshi, Ram Varadarajan, Kenwyn Williams
Michael Gale (incumbent), Shahid Ahmed, Ahmed Jeddy, Krish Prasad, Mahammad Qureshi
Rafey Syed (incumbent), Hemant Buch, Ahmed Jeddy, Charles Peterson, Mahammad Qureshi
John Aaron, Kenwyn Williams
John Thickett (incumbent), Gangaram Singh

Rahul Dravid has said the selectors’ decision to appoint Virat Kohli as India’s vice-captain for the Asia Cup is a just reward for the Delhi batsman, who was the only India player to hit a century on the tour to Australia – he had scored one hundred apiece in the Test and one-day series. At the same time, Dravid pointed out that Gautam Gambhir, who was earmarked as a future captain by the selectors in the past, should not be discouraged by Kohli’s elevation.”He [Kohli] has had a great tour of Australia. He has done incredibly well in the Tests and in the ODIs. The selectors have given him a bit of reward,” Dravid said in Mumbai, at an event organised by his IPL franchise, Rajasthan Royals. “Having said that, Virat is the first to recognise that he has got to establish himself to go a step further. I think we know from the past that by just being the vice-captain, you are not going to be the next captain. [And so] I feel people like Gautam shouldn’t feel left out. But at the moment Dhoni is doing a good job, so you don’t need to look anywhere else.”Dravid, who was a part of the two teams that suffered whitewashes in the Test series in Australia and before that in England, said that the poor results were “really tough” on the players, who always entered the field with just one thought: “to win”. “First England and then Australia – we suffered that string of losses on both the tours and believe me, we feel very deeply about it,” Dravid said.The lack of big innings from Sachin Tendulkar was not a concern, Dravid said. Tendulkar, for the first time in five tours to Australia, did not score a ton, leading to much speculation regarding the pressure on him as he continues to search for his 100th international century. He has now gone 32 innings without a hundred, the last time he got to the landmark being against South Africa in the World Cup a year ago.”Having shared the dressing-room with Sachin, I don’t think Sachin himself is thinking about it [scoring the 100th century],” Dravid said. “Every time, a batsman wants to go out and score a century to help the team win. It [the landmark] will happen.Edited by Nikita Bastian

The secret tiebreaker rule in the IPL player auction was devised by Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman, and benefited Mumbai Indians during the 2010 auction, an official from one of the original eight IPL franchises has said.The official’s comments were made to ESPNcricinfo after Modi, during an interview to Indian television channel CNN IBN, said the tiebreaker was meant to level the field in the IPL. When asked why the tie-breaker had to be kept secret, Modi chose not to answer the question.”The tiebreaker only came in because, how do you determine when you have a fixed purse for the tournament. And this is well researched, that you reach the cap and still two teams are bidding, secret tie-breaker came as a penalty clause where the team actually pays back a higher fee but it goes back to the BCCI, which is then used to offset other player costs,” Modi said. “But the objective, again, was to make it equal. All bidders get an equal opportunity to buy a player.”The secret tie breaker became a high-earning option for the BCCI as compared to the others – a draw of lots or the toss of a coin – in the case of two teams hitting the League’s player’s salary cap during an auction. The competing franchises are invited to submit secret bids in a sealed envelope, and the highest bidder gets the player. The value of the secret bids are not disclosed and the amount in excess of the maximum open-auction bid goes to the BCCI and not the player.The franchise official said the field had not been level even during Modi’s time as IPL chief as the secret tie-breaker could usually benefit teams with deeper pockets. “The truth is, has there been favouritism in the IPL? Of course there has been,” the official told ESPNcricinfo. “There has been favouritism in the sense, if you create a rule like the tiebreaker, you know it favours only certain franchises. That rule was made by Modi himself and Mumbai Indians were able to get Kieron Pollard in the auction.”So far only three players have been bought via this rule. In the 2010 auction, more than one franchise made the maximum open-auction bid – $750,000 – for Pollard and Shane Bond. During the tiebreakers, Mumbai made the winning bid for Pollard while Kolkata Knight Riders bought Bond. In the 2012 auction on February 4, Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers bid their entire purse – $2 million – for Ravindra Jadeja, forcing the sale to be decided via a tiebreaker, which was won by Chennai.The franchise official also pointed out another example of Modi altering regulations, in the case of the selection of Indian Cricket League players, who were given amnesty after their bans. “The original idea was that there would be draft pick,” the official said, explaining that the franchise with the poorest record would get the first pick. “But instead, Modi said anyone can pick anyone. Mumbai Indians immediately picked R Sathish, Ambati Rayudu and Ali Murtuza, who played a significant part for Mumbai in the first three years. Two of the most significant rule changes, which favoured big teams, happened during Modi’s time.During the interview Modi targeted the BCCI president N Srinivasan, who is also the managing director of India Cements, the company that owns the Super Kings. Modi alleged Srinivasan was bending rules to suit Super Kings’ needs. While the official ESPNcricinfo spoke to said the rules did favour the bigger franchises, he said it was not cheating.”If you ask me, if the system favours Mumbai or Chennai, yes wherever it can. For example if there is a rule that Rs 30 lakhs is the limit (for uncapped domestic players) to come and sign whoever you want, you knew that players would be signed by the big guys and they would pay obscene amounts under the table for the players they wanted. But to say that is cheating, is not correct.”