ENGLAND captain Michael Vaughan was due to report in at Headingley today after a two weeks' rest following an injection on his injured knee.

Vaughan will be seen by Yorkshire physiotherapist Scott McAllister, who will assess Vaughan's progress and then report his findings to the ECB.

If it is felt that Vaughan is responding well to his treatment, England will probably agree that he should start pre-season training with his Yorkshire team-mates and then make his comeback with the county next month.

That would be good news for Yorkshire who are also hoping that Matthew Hoggard will be available for the first few weeks of the season before England begin their Test series against Sri Lanka on May 11.

Newly promoted in the Championship, Yorkshire face a tough start in the first division with a trip to county champions Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, before taking on Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Vaughan and Hoggard could be available for both of these games, plus Yorkshire's first home Championship match of the season which is against Sussex at Headingley, starting on May 3.

Vaughan has not been entirely inactive since his knee injection and during a short break in the Caribbean he turned up earlier this week to support England 'A' in their third one-day international with West Indies 'A'. He took the opportunity to deny a report that he was about to retire from international cricket, saying: "It is nonsense. I hope to play for a long time yet."

Australian all-rounder Ian Harvey, who spent the last two seasons with Yorkshire, has signed a short-term contract with his previous county, Gloucestershire, and will be available for the first few Championship and one-day matches.

There was no longer any room for Harvey at Yorkshire who have now got fellow Australian stars Darren Lehmann and Jason Gillespie as their two overseas players for the new season.

Updated: 11:05 Thursday, March 16, 2006