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Australia’s chairman of selectors, John Inverarity, has declared Michael Clarke only had a 50-50 chance of playing the Boxing Day Test and said Mitchell Starc was almost certain to be rested due to his heavy workload. On Sunday, Clarke jogged at half pace on the MCG under the watchful eye of the team physio Alex Kountouris, as he continued his recovery from the hamstring injury that forced him to retire hurt while batting during Australia’s win over Sri Lanka in Hobart.Clarke did not bat at training on Sunday and had his troublesome muscle strapped with an ice-pack while his team-mates worked in the nets in Melbourne’s extreme heat. He took part in long discussions with Inverarity and the coach Mickey Arthur, and while Clarke remains in contention to lead the side on Boxing Day, Inverarity said a conservative approach would be taken regarding Clarke’s fitness.”He’s travelling optimistically and well. But he’s 50-50 as to whether he’ll be fit enough to play on Boxing Day,” Inverarity said. “He’s a very precious asset and I would go low risk. He’s always upbeat, he desperately wants to play. But we certainly don’t want to push him especially hard in a Test for him to break down.”Shane Watson will captain Australia if Clarke is ruled out, and he would become the 44th man to lead Australia in a Test. It is an elite group that does not include some of Australia’s greats – Victor Trumper and Shane Warne, to name just two men who did not captain Australia in Tests – and Watson said he had learnt plenty about leadership while filling in for Clarke during eight one-day internationals earlier this year.”It’s about as big as it gets for an Australian cricketer,” Watson said. “There’s no doubt if that opportunity arises it certainly would be … an amazing opportunity to think something like that has come along in your life. But I’m trying not to get too far in front of myself at the moment.”The thing that really stood out to me [in the ODIs] was to trust my gut instinct. Until you captain a side you don’t really realise the intuition you’ve developed over 10 or 11 years of first-class cricket and also being around some of the best players who have ever played for Australia. Intuition really does come to the fore and you’re able to do things tactically that you didn’t think you had in you.”If Watson leads the side, he will almost certainly be without the left-armer Starc, who is not injured and bowled in the nets on Sunday, but is expected to be rested. At 22, Starc is one of the younger members of Australia’s fast-bowling group and after the breakdowns of James Pattinson and Pat Cummins, the selectors are wary of asking too much of Starc, despite the fact that he has taken 14 wickets in the past two Tests.”He’ll either play Melbourne or Sydney, but it would make some sense that he misses this one and plays Sydney rather than goes Hobart and then Melbourne,” Inverarity said. “It’s about bowling loads. The science behind it is that they’ve got to build up their bowling loads so the oscillations are not very significant. If they do become reasonably significant, as they have done for Mitchell, then you enter a danger period, a high-risk period.”Should Starc sit out, that would mean a Test debut for the Tasmania fast bowler Jackson Bird, who would join Peter Siddle, Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Lyon in the attack. The backup batsman in the squad, Usman Khawaja, batted in the nets on Sunday and even sent down a few offspinners, preparing for what will be his first Test in more than a year, if Clarke is ruled out.

An experienced and explosive batting order and a strong bowling line-up have made Lahore Lions one of the favourites in the domestic Faysal Bank T-20 Cup, and they showed how dangerous they are in their opening match, comfortably beating Karachi Zebras by seven wickets. Their captain Mohammad Hafeez wanted his side to build on the impressive beginning.”It’s just a start but obviously the onus is on us, as a side filled with international players, to win the crown,” Hafeez said at the post-match press conference. “There is a sense of responsibility in the boys and that they want to live up to the billing of being a star side. All of them are focused on winning the national championship.”Hafeez, who was appointed the Pakistan T20 captain in May this year, wasn’t considered for the leadership role by Lions in the 14-team regional Twenty20 tournament. However, minutes before the Lions’ first match against Karachi Zebras at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the original captain Mohammad Yousuf passed on the role to him. “I didn’t want to lead the side but it was Yousuf himself who insisted on me taking up the role otherwise I wanted to play as a regular player. I respect his decision and stepped in his role to do the job but still I am carrying on the same strategy as we planned to execute before the match.”ESPNcricinfo understands that Hafeez withdrew from his usual side, the Faisalabad Wolves, after differences with the city association over selection issues. He has been playing for Faisalabad Wolves in the domestic Twenty20 competition since 2005 but this year Hafeez, now a Lahore resident, chose to represent Lions. “Sargodha and Faisalabad are my own cities and it’s tough to play against them but I wanted a change, that’s why I’m playing for Lahore. Playing against Faisalabad is obviously a tough one, but on various instances, we have been playing against (each other) and sometimes in one team in domestic level. This is something similar and I am enjoying playing for Lahore.”Hafeez, who has opened for Pakistan in most of his T20 matches, surprisingly batted at No. 3 for Lions in the opening game against Karachi Zebras. He said there wasn’t any plan to move him to No. 3 in the national team. “I didn’t want to disturb the combination as both Nasir (Jamshed) and Ahmed (Shehzad) have been doing well for long. But it’s just a temporary move only for the event and nothing to do with my national team spot. I don’t know about the India series, that is something need to be discussed later. But at the moment this event is serving as a useful practice ahead of the India tour.”

Munir Malik, the former Pakistan bowler, died in Karachi on November 30 after prolonged illness. He was 78.Malik played his debut Test against Australia in 1959 in Karachi and picked up three wickets in the match. He played two more Tests during Pakistan’s 1962 tour of England and added six more wickets to his tally. His first-class career spanned 10 years from 1956 to 1966 during which he picked up 197 wickets from 49 matches.

ScorecardWill Beer, seen here against Somerset, was preferred to Monty Panesar and took three wickets•Getty Images

Sussex moved into pole position to qualify for the CB40 semi-finals after leapfrogging Warwickshire at the top of Group C following a 17-run victory.The third-placed Bears were dismissed for 182 in the final over replying to a modest 199 for 9 to leave Sussex needing to beat Yorkshire and Kent to secure their place in the last four. Warwickshire and Kent, however, can still go through if the leaders slip up.Sussex’s spinners were the key to victory; they bowled 21 overs between them on a slow pitch. Mike Yardy set the tone by conceding just 23 runs in his eight overs, before leg spinner Will Beer took centre stage, claiming 3 for 27.Having run out Will Porterfield, Beer starred after being brought into the attack by having Tim Ambrose caught behind and Jim Troughton stumped. He completed his haul when he bowled Darren Maddy off an inside edge.Offspinner Chris Nash had the dangerous Rikki Clarke caught at extra cover and returned in the 38th over to end a threatening 52-run stand between Keith Barker and Steffan Piolet by bowling the former as he tried to clear the leg-side boundary.That left Warwickshire needing 34 off the last three overs, and Nash secured victory in the last when he castled Chris Wright to also finish with 3 for 27.Earlier, Sussex had been indebted to Yardy, who made the only half-century of the match.Wright took three wickets in nine balls – including that of namesake Luke for a golden duck – to reduce Sussex to 34 for 3 in the seventh over. Yardy and Murray Goodwin then put on 62, only for the latter to play on to Jeetan Patel’s quicker ball for 36; Patel also picked up Joe Gatting to finish with 2 for 29.At 125 for 6 in the 27th over, Sussex were in trouble. But Kirk Wernars counter-attacked before Yardy chipped a catch to mid-on, having hit five fours in his 61. Wernars finished unbeaten on 37 and a target of 200 proved beyond a Warwickshire side whose hopes of reaching the last four may have been fatally damaged by two defeats in the space of 48 hours.

Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund, who averaged 7.66 on India A’s tour of the West Indies, has been selected to captain the 16-member India A squad for their tour of New Zealand in September and October. Robin Bist, who got one innings on that West Indies tour, Parvinder Awana, who got one match, and Wriddhiman Saha, easily the second-best choice as wicketkeeper in the country, all suddenly find themselves out of reckoning.Cheteshwar Pujara, Ashok Dinda, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma have been picked for either Tests or the World Twenty20, and are hence unavailable. Apart from Abhinav, spinners Akshay Darekar, Jalaj Saxena, Rahul Sharma, and quicks Shami Ahmed and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the only survivors from what was an average West Indies tour.India’s Under-19 captain, Unmukt Chand, who has been impressive with his batting in some crunch situations in U-19 games, was duly rewarded with a place on the tour. Rajasthan’s Ashok Menaria, who scored 462 runs at 77 in last year’s Ranji Trophy, was rewarded with a place in the side, but he will miss team-mate Bist, who was the leading run-getter in the tournament. Naman Ojha, who averaged 61 in Ranji Trophy, replaced Saha as the wicketkeeper. Ambati Rayudu finally finds himself in a representative side after his return from the ICL. Vinay Kumar found himself demoted one level, and will be the leader of this attack. Praveen Kumar continued to be out of favour even for the A tour.Punjab’s Mandeep Singh, Bengal’s Anustup Majumdar and Mumbai’s Suryakumar Yadav took the remaining batting slots. Seamers Rituraj Singh of Rajasthan and Jaydev Unadkat of Saurashtra were left-field picks. Rituraj has played just five first-class games, but averages 18 for his 27 wickets. Unadkat had failed to impress on his Test debut, and got 26 wickets in Ranji Trophy at an average of 27.India A squad: Abhinav Mukund (capt.), Naman Ojha (wk), Mandeep Singh, Anustup Majumdar, Unmukt Chand, Ashok Menaria, Ambati Rayudu, Suryakumar Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Akshay Darekar, Vinay Kumar, Shami Ahmed, Jalaj Saxena, Rahul Sharma, Rituraj Singh and Jaydev Unadkat

ScorecardSteve Harmison wants to finish his career wearing the Durham kit•Getty Images

Steve Harmison’s initial appearance as an honorary Yorkshireman is not one he will particularly relish. Endless coach journeys, endless rain and, when he did finally have a bowl well into the third day of this weather-ruined fixture, inactivity and a lack of match practice were responsible for an opening over of wild misdirection. His first ball was a wide, as was his third and then his fourth. Another followed in his next over.His five overs went for 25 runs and further rain on the final day ensured he would not bowl again. Harmison, with just six first-class wickets to his name this season, has begun a month’s loan to Yorkshire unless he is recalled in the event of injuries or Test calls. He has been recommended by Durham’s members for a benefit next year and, even if at 33 he is clearly not the fast bowler he was, still intends to play on for two or three more years. Preferably for Durham.”I still want to play for Durham. I still have the burning desire to play cricket for my home county.” In reference to joining Yorkshire on loan, he said: “I feel like I’m a proud man and an honest person so if I’m representing a side that has given me the chance to play, I’ll do everything I possibly can. The most important thing is for Yorkshire to get back into the first division. If I can play any small part in that, I’ll be delighted.”I’ve not played cricket for two years properly and it’s frightening how much I have missed it. I’ve probably got two to three years left in the game, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. The only thing I’ve ever been able to do is play cricket. It’s one thing being frustrated not playing when you’re injured like I have been over the last few years, but when I’m not playing cricket because of the weather or through not being picked, it’s doubly frustrating.”The Yorkshire coaching hierarchy of Martyn Moxon and Jason Gillespie, an old foe of Harmison’s during Ashes encounters, were not particularly influential in him joining Yorkshire. He had had enough of second XI cricket and inactivity during the t20 period and felt he had to play in the first-class game, not least because of better facilities.”I would have gone anywhere. It was a case of who needed a bowler – and that county was Yorkshire owing to Ryan Sidebottom being injured. I have nothing against second team cricket but I have enjoyed every minute since I began practising with them at the start of the week.”Harmison’s next appearance for Yorkshire will be against Derbyshire at Chesterfield next week. Pitches of old on that attractive ground had the trampoline bounce he desired, whereas too often this summer, one in which he has played just three Championship matches, they have been dampened and dulled by the rain. No-one wants to see his career peter out or for him to play on too long through not knowing what to do next, but there is clearly a possibility of both occurring. He has not been so in need of a few wickets since, well, he was about to open England’s bowling at Gillespie and company in 2005.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Only 6.2 overs of play were possible due to incessant rain•AFP

The south-west monsoon allowed only 6.2 overs of play in the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium, leaving the series level at 1-1.There were early warning signs that the match could be a stop-start affair as a brief shower forced the groundstaff to bring on the covers soon after the toss. The rain relented and the match began on time, but only one ball was bowled after which the showers returned to hold up play for 75 minutes.When the cricket resumed, Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara got the ball to jag around to test Pakistan’s batsmen. Mohammad Hafeez perished in the first over, nibbling at a swinging delivery from Malinga to edge to the keeper. Kulasekara’s inswing caused more problems, and several close calls, before Azhar Ali was adjudged lbw in the sixth over though the ball looked to have struck him outside off.Only two more balls were bowled before the umpires decided to halt play as ominous clouds threatened an extended break. The covers were on even before the rain began, but it hardly let up through the rest of the day. The groundstaff took off the covers several times, but the rain didn’t stay away long enough for a resumption.There had been plenty of debate before this match over whether Pakistan needed to play an extra batsman, and it was settled as Pakistan chose to bring in a specialist batsman, Asad Shafiq, in place of fast bowler Rahat Ali. There wasn’t enough play, however, to test the soundness of the strategy. There also wasn’t enough play for 34-year-old left-arm-spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon, making his debut seven years after his first national call-up, to either bat or bowl.