Yorkshire finally admitted that they have signed 21-year-old Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh who hopes to arrive in England next week and make his debut in the National League clash with Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road on Sunday, May 18.

And they also confirmed that Australian left-hander Matthew Elliott will return home as soon as a flight can be arranged.

Yorkshire chief executive Colin Graves said that Elliott was leaving by mutual agreement due to a combination of circumstances.

He had not been able to shake off a knee injury which he picked up in Australia last winter and he had domestic worries caused by the serious illness of his brother-in-law.

Yorkshire had given Elliott the option of staying or going home and he had decided to be released from his contract.

There remained, however, the possibility that Elliott could return later in the summer if both parties agreed.

Elliott's knee trouble flared up shortly before the first game and he was forced to pull out of what would have been his seasonal debut against Cambridgeshire at March on Wednesday.

Yuvraj, who had originally been sought as cover in case Elliott missed some matches, is waiting to be issued with a work permit and could be in Yorkshire by Thursday.

He embarrassed Yorkshire on Monday by stealing the club's thunder by revealing on an Indian website that he had already fixed up to play for the county.

Although Yuvraj has not yet played Test cricket for his country, he has proved himself to be a formidable competitor in one-day cricket and he attracted world-wide attention in the NatWest Triangular Series final between England and India at Lord's last July when he thrashed 69 to bring India a surprise victory.

Despite being so young, the hard-hitting left-hander and left-arm spin bowler has already played in 73 one-day internationals, scoring 1644 runs at an average of 31 and picking up 23 wickets at 34 runs apiece.

Yuvraj also scored rapidly in several innings in this year's World Cup and he played a big part in India reaching the final where they were well beaten by Australia, Yuvraj hitting 24 off 34 deliveries.

Meanwhile, Matthew Hoggard and Gary Fellows were both due to have fitness tests shortly before the start of Yorkshire's Championship match against Derbyshire at Headingley today.

Hoggard has been out since suffering a stomach strain in the opening game of the season and Fellows has missed Yorkshire's two one-day games this week after tearing scar tissue on his hand.

Tim Bresnan was in line for his first- class debut if Hoggard failed to come through while Scott Richardson was standing by for Fellows.