Matthew Hoggard was instructed to stay on with England at Lord's yesterday instead of joining Yorkshire at Chelmsford but the state of his own fitness remained unclear on a day of confusion.

Yorkshire had been expecting Hoggard to check in at their team hotel on Tuesday night after spending the day with England at Lord's fulfilling various duties as one of their contracted players.

But after looking sharp at a net session, England asked Hoggard to stay in London overnight and he was later reported to have been added to the squad as cover for Craig White, who has a stiff back.

Hoggard is also having treatment on a back strain and had he been with Yorkshire the plan was to give him a fitness test and then make a decision over whether to play him shortly before the toss.

In the event the toss never came because an inch of rain in under an hour in Chelmsford the previous night, plus more bad weather in the morning, caused umpires Allan Jones and George Sharp to call play off for the day at a lunchtime inspection.

In the meantime, Yorkshire coach Wayne Clark received a message from England boss Duncan Fletcher saying that Hoggard would stay on in London until Saturday for treatment and, if fit, would then rejoin his county for Sunday's Norwich Union National League game against Gloucestershire at Bristol and next Wednesday's Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final clash with Somerset at Taunton.

"I am surprised to hear talk of Hoggard being in contention for an England place at Lord's," said Clark. "If he is not ready for a four-day match I cannot see him being fit for a Test match."

Hoggard had returned for Yorkshire Phoenix against Somerset Sabres last Sunday after hurting his back on the opening day of the season but had experienced some discomfort after the game.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire now know that they will visit Luton in the third round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy on June 27 to play Bedfordshire, who set up the tie after beating Dorset at Dean Park, Bournemouth.

Bedfordshire were helped to a seven-wicket win by 66 not out from Tasmanian Shaun Young who added 157 in an unbroken fourth wicket stand with James Knott.

Yorkshire still have painful memories of their Sunday League match with Gloucestershire at Headingley in 1997 when Young blasted their attack for an unbeaten 146 off 105 balls with nine sixes and nine fours, the onslaught being stopped by rain which ended the Gloucestershire innings with 5.2 overs still remaining.

The Yorkshire Board's hopes of a third-round match with Northamptonshire at Abbeydale Park, Sheffield, have been dashed with their second-round defeat by 30 runs against the Northamptonshire Board.