Retiring Yorkshire captain David Byas has delivered a stinging attack on Darren Gough, saying that he would be delighted to see his team-mate join another county. Speaking in the Daily Telegraph, Byas dismissed claims made at the weekend by Gough that the Yorkshire committee had it in for him. "Complaints about committee-men not liking you and nasty letters are nothing fresh," said Byas. "I had it for six years. In my view it's a cop-out because he's had his benefit, banked the cheque and is now off to pastures new. I've no sympathy for him although I must add that I couldn't give a tinker's cuss what he does.

"Basically, he's not worth bothering with, because Yorkshire won the title without him. He played in two games and made little contribution with the ball."

The official Yorkshire view is that they want Gough to remain part of the club. Australian coach Wayne Clark has written to him telling him to put the past behind him and chief executive Chris Hassell has held a heart-to-heart with Gough at his Buckinghamshire home. But Hassell wants the situation resolved quickly, one way or the other. "We want him to play for us and I made that very clear," said Hassell. "I have told him we want a reply from him in the next seven days, a definite decision about whether he will be playing for Yorkshire."

Byas's outburst is not unexpected. He has openly fallen out with Gough and in turn was criticised in Gough's autobiography.

But Gough has hardly gone out of his way to soothe growing anger among the Yorkshire rank and file. He played only two Championship matches last summer, and while most absences were caused by England commitments there were other instances when his excuses were considered less plausible. He was also the only member of the Yorkshire squad not to attend the official presentation of the County Championship trophy, and further alienated himself from the club with an ill-advised comment that Fred Trueman "shouldn't call himself a Yorkshireman".

A decision is expected later this week, and Surrey, Middlesex and Essex have emerged as front-runners to sign Gough if he finally calls it a day at Yorkshire.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd