YORKSHIRE will have four players on England's Test tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka this winter - more than any other county.
In addition, Yorkshire's director of coaching, Martyn Moxon, has been appointed assistant coach to England boss Duncan Fletcher for the one-day internationals in Kenya, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Darren Gough, Craig White, Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard are all included in the 16-strong Test squads, while Gough and White are also among the 14 chosen for the one-dayers.
With Hoggard not selected for the final Test against the West Indies at the Oval this week, it means he will now be available for Yorkshire for the remainder of the season and Vaughan will return for the last two Championship matches and the final day-night game against Kent at Canterbury next week.
But Yorkshire are not likely to see Gough and White again this season because Fletcher has said that players in both the Test and one-day squads will not be available for their counties in September.
Hoggard, whose sole Test appearance so far was against the West Indies at Lord's, has only toured once previously with an England party and that was with the Under 19s in 1995-96 when he went out to Zimbabwe as a replacement for the injured Alex Tudor.
"I was hoping rather than expecting to get a place on the tour," said Hoggard, who started out with Bradford League club Pudsey Congs and now plays for Baildon where he lives.
"It is a great honour to be chosen for England and it has turned into an incredible summer for me because at the start of the season Test cricket had not even entered my mind and I was still concentrating hard on establishing myself in the Yorkshire side.
"Going on tour with three other guys from Yorkshire will certainly help, but I have already learned an enormous amount from being with England over the past few weeks.
"I have never been to either Pakistan or Sri Lanka before but the pitches out there are very flat and it helps if you can swing the ball. I have developed my reverse swing and this should be particularly useful when the ball is older and softer."
One of the biggest surprises announced my England yesterday was Moxon's appointment as assistant coach to Fletcher for the one-day internationals and this is a big career step for the former Yorkshire and England opening batsman who last winter was in charge of England 'A' in Bangladesh and New Zealand.
"I only had the news confirmed on Sunday morning and I am absolutely thrilled by it," said Moxon.
"I am also looking forward to working alongside Duncan Fletcher. It will broaden my horizons and help my development as a coach.
"I enjoyed being coach on the A tour last winter and I had hoped I may be considered for the forthcoming tour of the West Indies but to get this offer was fantastic and I had no hesitation in accepting it."
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