Vaughan Earmarks His Date for Yorkshire Return

Yorkshire expect Michael Vaughan to make his first appearance since resigning the England captaincy in their County Championship match against Kent which starts at Scarborough on August 27. Vaughan has been on holiday since he announced his resignation on August 4, but contacted Yorkshire's director of cricket Martyn Moxon this week to confirm his intention to return before the end of the season.

"I had a message from him and we are looking for him to come back and start some batting practice next week," Moxon said yesterday, confirming that the Kent game - the first of three consecutive championship fixtures that Yorkshire will play at Scarborough in the next month - has been penciled in.

Yorkshire then end their season against Sussex at Hove, giving Vaughan four first-class matches in which to launch his bid to rediscover the batting form that deserted him for much of the past year.

In his resignation statement, the 33-year-old said that he was making the decision "to prolong my career".

Yorkshire, who are currently in the First Division relegation zone, could do with a late-season boost, although they will need Vaughan to improve on his recent county form which has brought him only 379 runs from 13 innings in nine championship appearances over the last two seasons, with a highest score of 74.

They were unable to improve their position yesterday as the first day of the Roses Match at Old Trafford was washed out, which was equally frustrating for a Lancashire team who need to win to stay in contention at the right end of the table.

But it was still a lively day off the field, as Lancashire's announcement that they will not offer a new contract to Dominic Cork at the end of the season produced a predictably spirited response from the former England all-rounder.

Lancashire's manager Mike Watkinson suggested that the decision had been an amicable one, praising Cork for "putting his heart and soul into the county" since he joined from Derbyshire in 2004.

However Cork expressed his surprise and disappointment, and declared his intention to "come back and haunt Lancashire and prove the manager and the committee wrong".

"I'm very disappointed," said the 37-year-old, who has taken 169 first-class wickets in 61 matches for Lancashire at an average of 28.15, although he has only played in six of their 10 championship games so far this season and has not taken a five-wicket haul since 2006.

"I thought that I'd be ending my career at Lancashire, but it's not to be. I'll be leaving with a heavy heart," said Cork.

Cork believes he has "another two, maybe three, years in me", and wants to join another First Division club, although he refused to comment on recent reports linking him with Durham and Nottinghamshire.