Matthew Elliott will be back with Yorkshire for the first few weeks of the new season as cover for Younis Khan, who will still be playing for Pakistan in the World Cup.

Elliott hit a rich vein of form at Yorkshire when he joined them for the final few matches of 2002 as a replacement for fellow Australian Darren Leh-mann, who had to return home early to prepare for a Test series.

In five Championship appear-ances, the left-hander struck 487 runs with one century and four half-centuries at an average of 54.11.

But his real moment of glory came in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final at Lord's, when his unbeaten 128 charged Yorkshire to victory over Somerset by six wickets.

Elliott returned to Heading-ley the following season but a combination of a long-standing knee injury and a serious family illness resulted in him going back to Australia in May without having played a match and India's Yuvraj Singh was signed to replace him.

Elliott is a team-mate of Lehmann's at South Australia and recently captained them in his colleague's absence through injury.

He smacked 111 off 112 balls in the Redbacks' Ford Ranger Cup clash against New South Wales but was then out of action for a short while with a rib injury sustained in that match.

He returns tomorrow in what will be his 200th first-class outing when South Aust-ralia take on Victoria, Elliott's previous State side, at the Adelaide Oval.

During his Test career, Elliott played 21 times for Australia, his biggest knock being 199 against England at Headingley in 1997.

That was an innings which helped him become one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year the following year.

"I will only be with York-shire for a few weeks at the start of the season but I am determined to play my part and put runs on the board," said 35-year-old Elliott.

"The club have taken some knocks over the past few weeks but I am confident that good times are ahead and I am pleased I can make a contribution."

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan added: "We've been working very hard over the past few weeks to identify quality players who can hit the ground running.

"Matthew is a great acquisition and, although he will only be with us for a short while, we value his support and look forward to welcoming him to Headingley Carnegie."

Elliott will join up with Yorkshire at the beginning of April in preparation for the opening Liverpool Victoria Championship match against newly-promoted Surrey at The Oval, starting on April 19.