Yorkshire blasts Boycott for criticising club on Vaughan's injury

London, May 26 (UNI) Hitting back at former captain Geoff Boycott for his criticism of the club over handling of Michael Vaughan's knee injury, Yorkshire has asserted that the rehabilitation programme for the regular England captain is in fact running well ahead of schedule.

Boycott, in his column for ''Daily Telegraph'', had questioned the handling of the injury and opined Vaughan should consult specialist knee surgeon Richard Steadman in America, whose list of patients includes prominent soccer stars like Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Taking a dig at Boycott, Wayne Morton, Yorkshire's consultant physio, said, ''Michael is ahead of schedule for where we want him to be and is working extremely hard on his recovery programme. I don't think comments such as Geoffrey's help the situation and I wish he had taken the trouble to phone myself or Michael.'' Vaughan has been training for several weeks and Morton and team physiotherapist Scott McAllister met with England's management team at the start of the season to discuss Vaughan's progress and a rehabilitation programme was devised.

If he can avoid setbacks, Vaughan could be playing in in the next few weeks even though there is no chance to join the England squad before the Test series against Pakistan, beginning at Lord's on July 13.

''It's extremely difficult to rehabilitate players with long-term injuries in the public eye and there are bound to be setbacks along the way,'' Morton told the club website.

''I'm disappointed with Geoffrey's remarks because he has just joined the Yorkshire committee and should know better than this.

Negative talk can nly be upsetting for Michael at a time when he needs to be focusing solely on getting himself right,'' he rued.

UNI XC PG AY VV1528