The on-off saga surrounding Darren Gough's fitness took another twist when he announced that he hoped to be fit in time for England's third game in the NatWest Series against Sri Lanka next Tuesday (July 2). "The knee's coming on well," said Gough, less than three days after he was being written off for the whole tournament. "I always said I wanted to come back in the one-day series and that's what I'm going to do despite what other people were saying."

Gough will play for Yorkshire's 2nd XI on Friday (June 28) and, assuming that his knee does not give him any worries, he will be considered for the England side at Headingley. "They have sent me away to play a competitive game and I'll be coming in off a full run and then I'll meet up with the rest of the boys again on Saturday," said Gough. "I think I've surprised everyone these last couple of days and I want to surprise everyone even more by turning out for England next week."

Gough, whose slow recovery from two operations on his right knee has been a cause for concern, played in two games last weekend but withdrew from a third match, leading to speculation that his comeback had again hit problems.

"I woke up on Sunday feeling sore," Gough explained. "As a precaution it was decided to rest me. I'm not back to square one. Despite having a sore knee on Monday after two games in two days, I still wanted to play for Yorkshire's second XI against Nottinghamshire. But it was decided that it would be better if I sat out the game. So I didn't play, and everyone thought I was in serious trouble. The fact is I feel absolutely fine again now. I'm not 100 per-cent fit at the minute but I'm not far off.

An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman confirmed that Gough is back in the frame. "He will join the squad at Lord's on Saturday and subject to no recurrence of his injury he will be available to play at Headingley."

Whatever the state of his knee, there will be concerns over Gough's general fitness after several newspapers speculated that he had not kept himself in trim during his enforced lay-off.

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