LONDON, Sept 13: England medium fast bowler Matthew Hoggard was pulled out of Yorkshire's county championship match against Nottinghamshire on Wednesday because of a side injury.

Hoggard, a member of England's 16-man Ashes squad that was announced on Tuesday, suffered the injury while warming up before the start of the match.

The 29-year-old was taken to hospital for a precautionary scan which showed no muscle tear.

“We want to be absolutely sure that the injury is not too serious,” Yorkshire physio Scott McAllister said on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) website said.

“It shows there is no muscular tear but Matthew will have an MRI scan tomorrow 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.”

With captain Andrew Flintoff still recovering from the ankle injury that kept him out of the recent home series with Pakistan and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles plagued by a hip problem, England's selectors will monitor Hoggard's fitness closely.—Reuters