ENGLAND captain Michael Vaughan will not be allowed to help Yorkshire battle for promotion in their last two Championship matches of the season.

Yorkshire have been told by England that they want Vaughan to rest up ahead of the tours of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in a few weeks' time and not play for his county again this summer.

But they have said they have no objection to strike bowler Matthew Hoggard taking part in Yorkshire's remaining games as he builds up his fitness following the cartilage operation which caused him to be out of cricket from the end of May until his return a couple of weeks ago.

Yorkshire would love to have had Vaughan in their side for the Championship encounters with Worcestershire at New Road later this week and then Gloucestershire at Headingley next Wednesday, but director of cricket, Geoff Cope, said they just had to accept the situation.

Privately, Vaughan (pictured) himself may have wanted to play in at least one of the games in order to make some runs after a pretty lean time of it since taking over as England's Test captain.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire Phoenix were today busily preparing for their crucial National League clash this evening against Essex Eagles at Chelmsford where nothing less than a win will keep them in with a chance of avoiding relegation to the Second Division for the first time.

Their slender hopes of staying up were strengthened somewhat after beating Worcestershire Royals at New Road on Sunday but they must now win their final two games - and keep their fingers crossed that they can still get out of jail.

Yorkshire will select from an unchanged squad of 12 which means there is no room for either Chris Silverwood, now recovered from a stiff neck, or Steve Kirby who was rested at Worcester.

"At the moment we have the rare luxury of all of our five top seamers being fit which means we can pick what we consider our strongest team," said coach Kevin Sharp.

"The lads did well last Sunday and turned in a disciplined performance and we see no reason to change anything.

"We will wait until after the game before selecting the squad for the Championship match with Worcestershire which starts on Friday but both Silverwood and Kirby will certainly be in contention."

Australian Damien Martyn, who broke his nose while batting for Yorkshire against Somerset at Headingley last week, goes to hospital for a check-up tomorrow and he could be fit to play in the crunch Championship match against Gloucestershire which may determine which of the two sides is promoted.

Yorkshire Phoenix (v Essex Eagles) from: White, Wood, McGrath, Lumb, Craven, Hamilton, Blakey, Dawson, Gough, Sidebottom, Hoggard, Bresnan.

Updated: 10:59 Wednesday, September 10, 2003