Hoggard's 10 wickets against Pakistan this summer cost 47.3

The 29-year-old, who took 16 wickets in last year's Ashes, injured himself in the warm-up for Yorkshire's match against Nottinghamshire at Headingley.

He was taken to a hospital for a scan and nothing "significant" was found.

But as a precaution, Hoggard will return to hospital on Thursday for a MRI scan on the injury.

Yorkshire physiotherapist Scott McAllister said: "We want to be absolutely sure that the injury is not too serious.

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"The scan shows there is no muscular tear but Matthew will have an MRI scan tomorrow at 1pm to see if he has a small abdominal strain on his right side.

"We did not play Matthew today because we did not want to go a bowler down and the decision was made for him to have a scan because there was a slight doubt about his fitness."

The injury comes a day after Hoggard was named in the Ashes squad to take on Australia at the end of the year.

The selectors have come in for criticism from the media for selecting six players who are currently being treated for injuries.

Hoggard has become an important member of the England attack in recent seasons with his ability to swing the new ball.

On the last Australia tour in 2002/3 he played in three of the five Tests, returning for the final match to take 4-92 and 1-35 as England won by 255 runs in Sydney.

Hoggard was not Yorkshire's only casualty before play began at Headingley.

All-rounder Anthony McGrath was hit on the shin during the warm-up but a scan on his injury showed no fracture.

Yorkshire called up Andrew Gale from the second XI match at Stamford Bridge to replace McGrath and seamer Steven Patterson came in for Hoggard.