Yorkshire have England hero Michael Vaughan and Test colleague Matthew Hoggard back with them for today's televised Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final clash against Essex at Chelmsford.

Although Yorkshire will be looking for big performances from both of their Test stars, it is Hoggard who could be the key figure.

Both Chris Silverwood and Ryan Sidebottom picked up back injuries at Canterbury last week and are absent, leaving a lot of the hard work to rest on Hoggard's broad shoulders.

He bowled a marathon 39 overs against Sri Lanka over the first two days of the Test but England's great recovery has given him plenty of chance to rest up.

Hoggard can expect solid support from Steven Kirby and Tim Bresnan who both bowled splendidly in Yorkshire Phoenix's Norwich Union League win at the expense of champions Kent Spitfires on Sunday.

They had expected to be playing in the Second XI's four-day Roses match which began at Liverpool but were told to stay with the first team squad because of the late injury crisis.

Yorkshire cannot afford to slip up at Chelmsford because they know that if they go on to the Lord's final it will help to compensate for the dreadful start to their Championship campaign which has seen the title holders lose their first three matches.

Defeat against Essex, who are in Division Two of both the Championship and the Norwich Union League, would increase the pressure on coach Wayne Clark and captain Darren Lehmann.

Despite all their problems this season, however, Yorkshire have an unblemished record in one-day cricket on their travels, having won all five of their away matches - three in the B&H and two in the Norwich Union League.

But two of their former players will be trying their hardest to stop Yorkshire extending the sequence - Ripon-born Paul Grayson and Pudsey-born James Middlebrook both now on Essex's books.

Graham Gooch is confident his Essex side can beat Yorkshire - provided they can get rid of Darren Lehmann before he settles in.

Gooch, former England and Essex captain and now the county's coach, said: "Lehmann is a world class player and it is important we dismiss him quickly. If we can manage that, and also play to our full potential, I believe we can make it into the semi-final draw."

Dismissing Lehmann cheaply, however, is never easy, and Yorkshire's Aussie captain is currently in better one-day form than in the Championship.

In the B&H group stages, he plundered 89 against Nottinghamshire and 72 off Durham's attack while in the Norwich Union League his two innings so far have brought him 104 against Somerset at Taunton and an unbeaten 69 in last Sunday's win over title-holders Kent at Canterbury.

Yorkshire (from): Wood, Vaughan, White, Lehmann, McGrath, Dawson, Blakey, Fellows, Hoggard, Gray, Bresnan, Kirby.

l England will regroup at Edgbaston for the second Test next week quietly confident they have succeeded in identifying the long-term successor to Michael Atherton - Yorkshire's Michael Vaughan.

Atherton's decision to step down at the end of the final Test against Australia last September left Nasser Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher with a huge void at the top of the batting order, and they hope Vaughan is able to fill it.