Eng’ Players Given Their Orders

England captain Michael Vaughan has been awarded an extended break at the start of the domestic season in April after a gruelling winter in South Africa.

Which in turn means that Vaughan will feature in his first of two games for Yorkshire’s Championship fixture against Northamptonshire at Headingley on May 6, before the two-Test series with Bangladesh.

Meanwhile his England teammates will be getting a much longer run up to the Ashes summer. Steve Harmison, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick and Graham Thorpe will be available for Championship games, and will also be available for C&G Trophy games, as will Ashley Giles, although he misses Warwickshire’s opening first-class fixture.

Mark Butcher and Andrew Flintoff are expected to will miss the start of the season after their respective operations, but will then be available for their counties.

All full run down of the availabilities of the England players are shown below:

James Anderson (Lancashire): Available for all county cricket
Mark Butcher (Surrey): Available once fully fit
Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire): Available once fully fit
Ashley Giles (Warwickshire): Championship matches from Apr 13 and C&G Trophy on May 17
Steve Harmison (Durham): Championship matches and C&G Trophy on May 17
Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire): Available for all county cricket from Apr 13
Geraint Jones (Kent): Available for all county cricket from Apr 17
Simon Jones (Glamorgan): Available for all county cricket
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex): Championship matches from Apr 20 and C&G Trophy on May 17
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset): Championship matches and C&G Trophy on May 4 and May 17
Graham Thorpe (Surrey): Championship matches and C&G Trophy on May 17
Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire): Championship matches on May 6 & May 11 and C&G Trophy on May 17