London, May 4:

England captain Michael Vaughan is likely to miss at least the first Test against West Indies starting on May 17 after suffering a broken finger playing for Yorkshire against Hampshire.

Vaughan, who has missed previous 15 Tests due to a catalogue of other injuries, suffered an undisplaced fracture of his right middle finger after being struck by a delivery from Hampshire’s seamer Stuart Clark on Thursday.

The injury is likely to keep Vaughan out for three to four weeks, making him a near-certainty to miss out for the first Test and also for the second Test starting on May 25.

Yorkshire physio Scott McAllister told the Yorkshire Post: “My first reaction was that it wasn’t a serious problem, but results from the hospital showed that he has suffered a fractured finger.”

“It’s desperately bad luck for Michael after the succession of problems he’s had to contend with, and we will be monitoring his progress over the next few days. It looks like he might be out for three to four weeks, but it’s too early to say with absolute certainty how long he will be out for.”

Vaughan recovered from a hamstring problem in time to play for England in the World Cup where he once again failed to convince as a one-day batsman. Prior to that he was sidelined by a string of career-threatening knee injuries.