MATTHEW Wood comes in for injured captain David Byas in Yorkshire's important PPP healthcare Championship tussle with Leicestershire at Grace Road tomorrow.

But Yorkshire are still unsure whether England will release Matthew Hoggard from the Headingley Test or if Chris Silverwood will have shaken off the knee inflammation which caused him to miss the floodlit Roses game last week.

Wood rapped out an unbeaten century in the first match of the season against Derbyshire but then lost his form and has been omitted from the last three Championship fixtures.

But the 23-year-old Huddersfield-born batsman was back in the groove for Yorkshire Seconds last week when he plundered 191 off 299 balls with 27 fours and helped the Colts go on to beat Derbyshire Seconds by ten wickets.

Byas has had part of the cartilage removed from his right knee after doing the damage at Taunton almost a fortnight ago but he is making good progress and hopes to return for the game against county champions and current leaders Surrey starting at Scarborough on August 30.

Australian Darren Lehmann, who has captained Yorkshire in the two National League games since Byas went lame, will again be in charge at Grace Road - the first time in a full Championship match that Yorkshire will have been led by an overseas player.

Like Wood, off-spinner James Middlebrook also performed superbly against Derbyshire Seconds when he returned match figures of 11 for 100 and he could play alongside left-armer Ian Fisher at Leicester if the pitch looks like giving plenty of assistance to Leicestershire's spin wizard Anil Kumble.

Bradford League product Chris Elstub is included in Yorkshire's squad of 13 and the 19-year-old seamer could have a lot of work to do if both both Hoggard and Silverwood are missing.

Although Yorkshire will be weakened by the almost certain absence of Darren Gough, Michael Vaughan and Craig White, who will all be playing in the Headingley Test, they must pull out all the stops to beat Leicestershire and boost their Championship ambitions.

They are in second place, only 11 points adrift of Surrey, but fourth-placed Leicestershire could also come into the reckoning if they defeat Yorkshire.

Despite Yorkshire's shortage of experienced players, they are sticking with reserve wicketkeeper Simon Guy rather than bringing back Richard Blakey who was axed for the Championship visit to Somerset.

Guy made an excellent impression in that game both behind the stumps and with the bat and will probably hold on to his place for the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, Leeds City councillors yesterday visited Headingley to study the plans for the £12m redevelopment of the ground, work on which is hoped to start by October.

The Council have still to give final planning approval for the scheme but Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell said that the visit was only routine for a project of this size.

Yorkshire (v Leicestershire) from: Craven, Widdup, McGrath, Lehmann, Wood, Fellows, Hamilton, Guy, Fisher, Silverwood, Middlebrook, Elstub, Hoggard.