The tall former Derbyshire man had only just recovered from a hamstring strain which kept him out of the initial county and Bradford League matches, but made his debut for Morley against Spen Victoria and played for Yorkshire’s second XI.

He was being earmarked for a possible place in the Yorkshire starting line-up in the Championship match at Durham’s Riverside ground which starts today (Wednesday), but after reporting the injury on Thursday after making 87 in a Yorkshire seconds game he will now await scans to reveal the extent of the latest injury. Taylor was unable to play for Morley at the weekend and could be out for a month.

Yorkshire, meanwhile, face several selection dilemmas ahead of their return to Championship action and have no overseas bowler with Morne Morkel returning home injured and Rana Naved not due to start until May 19.

Bowling options have been further limited as Matthew Hoggard has been called up in the England 12 to play New Zealand and promising quickie Ajmal Shahzad has now picked up a hamstring injury.

Batting-wise, Michael Vaughan is now lost to the county as he resumes international duty and there is a spot at the top of the order up for grabs as a result.

There is experienced cover in the likes of Craig White and Deon Kruis, but any more injuries or England call-ups and Yorkshire will be down to bare bones.

They can expect a tough challenge too against a Durham side full of potential England players looking to highlight their claims - the likes of bowlers Steve Harmison, Liam Plunkett, Graham Onions and wicket keeper batsman Phil Mustard whose record against the Tykes is good.

Yorkshire go into the game off the back of a week’s rest and a one-day game disappointment against Lancashire when they had a winning position snatched away.

The club feel they are still well placed to qualify out of the northern section of the Friends Provident Trophy, but they missed the chance to go top on Sunday after scoring 204-7 then having their Red Rose rivals on 76-5 only to suffer a three-wicket defeat.

South African Francois du Plessis took the game away from them with an unbeaten 77 off 80 balls and it was a familiar losing feeling at Old Trafford.

Carnegie had themselves slumped to 58-4 in the 15th over of their innings, but a terrific 65 from Jacques Rudolph and a timely 42 not out by White gave them a defendable total in a game reduced to 45 overs by a sudden rain storm. Darren Gough (3-45) and Tim Bresnan (2-45) then seemed to have put Yorkshire on top, but Roses matches are never won until the final ball is bowled.

With two teams to qualify from the group, Yorkshire can still go through, but they must now beat Scotland at the Grange on Sunday.