Darren Gough has said that he hopes to be back to fitness in time for the NatWest one-day series which starts on June 27. "I want to be back for that. I think that's realistic," Gough said. "It is four-and-a half weeks away and that is my target." Gough picked up a cartilage injury at the tailend of the one-day series in New Zealand last February and had surgery on his return home. But the problem recurred and he was forced to undergo a second operation last week. The irony was that Gough had made himself unavailable for the Test series in India and New Zealand to ensure he would be rested for the coming gruelling 12 months, which includes series against India and Australia as well as the ICC Champions Trophy and the World Cup.

"I had a cartilage operation 12 weeks ago and was coming back from that," Gough said. "It was going well, but I started to get problems in other parts of the knee. So I had another operation last Wednesday to get it sorted and I've been having treatment every day.

"I started cycling yesterday and have been doing strengthening exercises. Hopefully I'm now on the road to recovery. It's frustrating to be missing out on the Tests now, but I don't want to worry about that."

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