Yorkshire prosper after excluding Australian pair

Yorkshire excluded Australian pair Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell and then sent Nottinghamshire reeling on a green tinged pitch as a challenging opening day was restricted to 47.3 overs because of rain and bad light at Headingley.

Ryan Sidebottom, back in action with the champions for the first time since an early season calf injury, claimed two wickets along with Steven Patterson, Jack Brooks and Tim Bresnan.

Nottinghamshire were seven down after lunch when a downpour interrupted play until 6.00pm after which Stuart Broad, in a rare appearance for his county, reached his side's top score of 36 before being dismissed.

Finch played for the Second XI against Worcestershire at Barnt Green in a bid to improve his form while it was decided to give Maxwell a few days break after a constant period of cricket since joining the county.

It turned into an unhappy day for Finch who pulled a ball from seamer, Chris Russell, into his rib cage. He retired hurt on 19 and went to hospital for an X-ray. He will take no further part in the game.

Yorkshire's director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, expanded on the decision by coach Jason Gillespie that led to both Australians being excluded. "We gave it a lot of thought but both Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth were available and Jack Leaning has been one of the best players of the season.

"We couldn't really leave Alex Lees out and we hadn't too many options. Finch has not played a lot of cricket since joining us after his injury and Dizzy discussed it with him and it was felt it would be better for him to play for the second team and get him ready for Durham next week."

With Jonathan Bairstow added to England's Twenty20 squad, Yorkshire included wicketkeeper-batsman, Andy Hodd - although Bairstow will return for the final two days.

Put in to bat, there was little sign of the things to come for Nottinghamshire as Steve Mullaney and Brendan Taylor made largely untroubled progress against the new ball, but when Patterson and Bresnan took over in a double bowling change, wickets began to topple.

Brendan Taylor, having strung together five boundaries in his 29, pushed forward at Patterson and Alex Lees bent low at first slip to scoop up the catch.

Former Yorkshire batsman Michael Lumb, who was out first ball in the T20 match between the sides on the ground last Friday, fared little better this time, reaching seven before being lbw to a Bresnan yorker which hit him on the boot.

In the next over from Patterson, captain James Taylor was caught behind off his first ball but he appeared unhappy with the decision and waved his bat in apparent frustration when leaving the field.

Notts had lost three wickets for 10 runs in 22 balls and Mullaney also departed shortly before lunch when he was unable to avoid edging a lifting delivery from Sidebottom into Hodd's gloves.

There was no respite for Notts after the interval and in the first over Samit Patel, stepping forward, was lbw to a full ball from Brooks who then gained an lbw verdict against Will Gidman.

Broad had a fortunate moment after making only a single. He edged Patterson to third slip where Jack Leaning dived far to his left and got his hand to the ball but could not make it stick.

Sidebottom's first ball back for a new spell pinned Riki Wessels lbw for 33 and Broad and Luke Wood managed to hold out until the rain came. On the resumption, Broad reached 36, the top score of the day, before he could not keep down a probing ball from Bresnan and Leaning took him cleanly at third slip.

A short break for bad light lopped a further three overs off the day's ration and on the return only nine balls were sent down before it became too dark to continue.

Moxon said: "I think we stuck to our task well .There was some help from the pitch and also from the overhead conditions but you still have to put it in the right places.

As for the excluded Australians, Moxon said Maxwell was "cricket mad" but it was felt he would benefit from a few days off. Maxwell had scored an unbeaten 92 in the T20 on Friday but his output of runs had not been ideal since joining Yorkshire.

"He has fitted into the dressing room really well but perhaps he has been trying to do too much and it was better for him to go away for a few days and come back fresh," Moxon added.