MICHAEL Vaughan may still not have recovered sufficiently from his knee operation to return to the England squad for the fifth and final Test against Australia at The Oval next week.

Although Vaughan has batted superbly for Yorkshire at Leicester, making scores of 82 and 47, he said yesterday that his knee was still very sore and he was continuing to have treatment.

Vaughan has not been picked by Yorkshire Phoenix for tomorrow's clash with Norwich Union Division One leaders Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road and he will decide over the weekend whether to inform England chairman of selectors David Graveney about his level of fitness.

"I expected it to be sore after my first couple of days of first class cricket but I also got whacked on the knee by James Ormond and that has not helped," said Vaughan.

"Although I have felt in good form with the bat I have struggled to sprint between the wickets and I have had to be hidden away a bit in the field.

"I am having ice pack treatment and physiotherapy and will see how quickly it improves before doing anything further."

Yorkshire will choose from 14 for tomorrow's game and included in their squad is Matthew Hoggard who is taking longer than expected to recover completely from his foot injury.

Hoggard will play Bradford League cricket today for Baildon and will turn out for Yorkshire tomorrow if he suffers no adverse reaction.

Yorkshire will not play Steven Kirby who was with Leicestershire Seconds before moving to Headingley and is something of a local hero around Grace Road. He is being rested to make sure he is fighting fit for next week's Championship match against Glamorgan at Scarborough.

Leicestershire, who lost their first game in the competition at Taunton on Tuesday by one run after nine consecutive wins, will have big-hitting sensation Shahid Afridi back in their side after missing the Championship game with a back strain.

Yorkshire Phoenix from: Wood, Hamilton, McGrath, Lehmann, White, Fellows, Byas, Blakey, Dawson, Hoggard, Elstub, Bresnan, Sidebottom, Gray.

Updated: 09:48 Saturday, August 18, 2001