England's medical bulletins have made pretty grim reading for most of the summer, but on the same day that Darren Gough was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy, there was better news at the top of the order. Marcus Trescothick, whose season appeared to be over when he suffered a multiple fracture of his right thumb, has made a remarkable recovery and now hopes to be playing again by the end of August.

Trescothick suffered the injury while fielding a fierce shot from Graeme Hick during the Cheltenham & Gloucester quarter-final at Worcester on July 17. He was originally expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks, and seemed unlikely to play any part in the series against India. But he now hopes to return to action for Somerset against Lancashire at Blackpool on August 27, with a view to playing in the C&G final at Lord's the following week, and the fourth Test at The Oval on September 5.

"The cast comes off on Monday and it will have been on for three weeks. At that point we will know better when I can play again," said Trescothick. "The medical suggestion was that I shouldn't play for eight weeks but as long as you feel ready there is no reason why you can't come back. It's disappointing because I was playing very well before the injury, I think I was concentrating better than I ever had done before."

Trescothick had indeed been on the top of his game prior to the injury. He scored a career-best 161 against Sri Lanka in the second Test at Edgbaston, and pillaged 362 runs off just 336 balls in the NatWest one-day series that followed.

"I'm hoping to come back for the game at Blackpool and then play in the C&G Trophy final," said Trescothick. "That's my target and we will have to see how it goes."

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