Vaughan making slow but steady progress

Michael Vaughan goes through his paces at Headingley © Getty Images

Michael Vaughan, the England captain, has said that he is making slow but steady progress in his bid to be fit for the summer, and also stated his desire to play in next year's World Cup.

England's selectors will name their squad this weekend for the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's which starts on May 11. It seems increasingly unlikely that Vaughan will be fit in time to play.

"I'm just trying to tick all the right boxes during my rehab. I'll play when the knee's ready, not when the schedule suggests," he said. "It's important I do get it right and once I do start playing again, it's not just for a short period but hopefully for a long time.

"I'm deep into rehab spending hours in the gym," he continued. "The most frustrating thing is that you're doing two or three good weeks and then you have a setback and then another good week and another setback. The problem is the knee had been giving way. It's not as bad as it was but it still happens."

Asked about his future, he smiled. "It's interesting that so many people have an opinon. So many thinsg get said and a lot of it's negative. But I'm positive I'll play again. Hopefully it's with three lions on my chest and hopefully it's as captain."

And he rebuffed suggestions he was planning to stop playing one-day cricket. "I'd love an opportunity to go the World Cup, fully fit and, hopefully, as captain. But that's not my decision."

"Michael still has some way to go before returning to action but is getting stronger and stronger by the day," David Byas, Yorkshire's director of cricket, told the Yorkshire Post. "Progress is being made, albeit gradual progress, and neither ourselves nor England are putting him under pressure."

Vaughan was forced to miss the India series after a recurrence of a long-standing knee injury, but he has been batting in the nets this week as well as undergoing gentle fielding practices.