Subscribe to RSS Feed Post to del.icio.us England 3/4 for India series win with Sky Bet!
Click here for latest cricket scorecards Click here for upcoming cricket fixtures Click here for more cricket news Michael Vaughan is still expecting to play for Yorkshire in an extra LV County Championship fixture this weekend - despite sitting out the last session of the Roses match with a stiff back. England captain Vaughan's absence during the latter stages of a rain-ruined draw at Old Trafford caused immediate consternation, with the Lord's Test only eight days away. Vaughan's history of knee problems means his vulnerability is well-known - but Yorkshire's director of cricket Martyn Moxon quickly made it clear the injury this time was minor.
"Michael Vaughan came off with a bit of a stiffness in his back," he said shortly after his Division One leaders had taken enough points to stay top of the table, with Lancashire now second. The hosts replied to 320 all out with 247 for six - narrowly missing out on a fifth bonus point - in a match which suffered washouts on its first two days, then five-wicket hauls for Lancashire's James Anderson and Yorkshire's Adil Rashid. As for Vaughan, it seems the plan is still for him to play against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in a fixture starting on Friday.
"It's precautionary - we didn't want to risk anything," said Moxon, making relative light of the injury. "We think it's probably just maybe the chill wind, and his age. We hope he'll be okay.
"With someone like Michael, we are not going to take any risks - so this is more precaution than it being a major, major problem." Vaughan left the field towards the end of the middle session - and, according to Moxon, then simply took things easy. "Basically, he was just kind of lying down - as you do when you have a stiff back - to let it settle," the former England batsman reported.
"It's just a bit of a spasm, and he just had a little bit of manipulation." Moxon was satisfied, meanwhile, with the outcome of a match which keeps the White Rose just ahead of the pack. "The final session went really well, and I'm delighted with that effort overall," he added.
"Realistically we thought six wickets would be probably the best we could hope for - and sure enough, with the last ball it happened." He could not hide his frustration, though, at once again being hampered by this summer's near unprecedented rains. "The weather is the biggest disappointment," Moxon admitted.
"In the last two fixtures we've had - against Sussex and now Lancashire, which were massive games - we've lost half the match through the weather. But on balance, we've probably got as many points as we could hope for - given the circumstances." Vaughan was one of three Yorkshire players to be injured over the past two days - and Moxon is most worried about wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy.
"Jacques (Rudolph) took a blow on his left thumb when Jimmy Anderson got him out," he recalled. "He went for an x-ray, and we don't think there's a break. We are waiting for the report back on him tomorrow morning - but we expect him to be okay.
"Gerard Brophy is the one causing us most concern. It is a potential fracture of his left little finger. "He'll have an X-ray first thing in the morning but looks as though he's a big doubt with regard to Friday.
" Lancashire came very close to finishing honours even - but their number three Mal Loye made it clear there were no regrets. He said: "I think we made the most of it, tried to get something from the game, went for that 250. "Probably at the start of it we wanted to get 300 if we were being honest.
But it was such a slow deck, difficult to score - especially against the spinners.
News RSS