YORKSHIRE have sprung a surprise move on the eve of the new season by appointing out-of-touch batsman Matthew Wood as first team vice-captain.

The news was announced at the club's opening luncheon at Headingley by director of cricket Geoff Cope, who said that Wood had got 100 per cent backing for the job from all of the senior players, including Darren Gough.

New captain Anthony McGrath had pressed for Wood to be made vice-captain and Cope said that he had been very happy to endorse the appointment.

But Cope later stressed that being given the vice-captaincy did not guarantee Wood a first team place.

"Nobody in the squad can be absolutely certain of his place but Matthew is thrilled to bits at getting the job and the extra responsibility might help to clear his mind a little and allow him to concentrate more on his batting."

Huddersfield-born Wood, 26, was capped towards the end of Yorkshire's Championship-winning season in 2001 when he topped 1,000 runs in the competition for the first time but his form totally deserted him last summer when he was axed after making only 201 runs in 17 innings at an average of 11.82.

In the autumn, Wood sought advice from coach Kevin Sharp and then contacted Rod Marsh in Australia to see if he could join up with the England Academy squad in Adelaide at his own expense - a request which was immediately granted.

On his return for pre-season nets at Headingley, Wood has benefited from one-to-one assistance from Michael Vaughan and he has responded with four half-centuries in warm-up matches.

Vaughan attended yesterday's luncheon before dashing off to a Ronnie Irani benefit function and he was presented with several awards as well as receiving a silver salver from Yorkshire president Robin Smith in recognition of his 1,481 Test runs for England last year which made him the world's heaviest scoring batsman in Test cricket.

Vaughan promised that whenever he played for Yorkshire this season he would be doing his utmost to get them back into the first division of the Championship and also to make sure they made it to Lord's again to retain the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

The message was to sell Yorkshire cricket at every opportunity and he appealed for more members to be recruited. "The goodwill to cricket in Yorkshire is enormous but only a fraction is translated into membership so get people involved," he said.

Also at the luncheon was England cricket and football international Clare Taylor who was presented with the Ladies County Championship Trophy which Yorkshire have won ten times in the last 11 seasons.

Updated: 10:56 Thursday, April 17, 2003