Fletcher rules out Vaughan return
England coach Duncan Fletcher has ruled out the possibility of Michael Vaughan featuring in this Ashes series.
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Vaughan is due to play a one-day game against the CA Chairman's XI at Lilac Hill on Friday and a two-day game against Western Australia, starting on Saturday, but Fletcher does not believe there are enough tour games for him to regain fitness after his knee surgery and play in the remaining Tests.
"There's not much cricket between now and the third, fourth and fifth Tests," Fletcher told the BBC. "Especially cricket where he has to stay in the field for a long time, probably two days standing on that leg and for a long innings.
"So until he can do that and he's confident in his knee, we won't consider Michael Vaughan."
Vaughan, 32, captained England to Ashes success in 2005 and had said he was targeting the fourth Test, which starts in Melbourne on Boxing Day.
He has been training with the Academy in Perth since recovering from the surgery to his knee, and calls for his reinstatement have intensified following England's embarrassing last-day submission at Adelaide.
Vaughan's form has been inauspicious in his two matches for the academy, he was out for a duck playing against a Western Australia XI and then hit just nine runs on Wednesday against a WA Second XI, but a big score in either of the forthcoming games would no doubt cause substantial media excitement, and Fletcher seems keen to put out the fire before it starts.
Vaughan is expected to be joined in the team at Lilac Hill by Monty Panesar and the other members of the Ashes squad who did not feature at Adelaide.
The third Test starts in Perth on 14 December with Australia leading the series 2-0.
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