When Darren Gough returned from Australia last week there were suggestions that his knee injury was so serious that his career might be in doubt. Now it seems that the rumours might for once have been accurate. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, Gough is flying to America for treatment on his cartilage and is facing a make-or-break operation.

"I'm bracing myself for the worst," Gough is quoted as saying. "America may be my last chance of finding out exactly what's wrong and whether I have a chance of ever playing again. It's depressing, and I have to face the fact that I may never play again. But if America is my last option then I'll be giving it one last go."

Gough admitted that he was never close to recovery while in Australia. "I just can't bowl fast without a chronic reaction. I could run in and bowl flat out on the first day at Adelaide, but the next day I would hardly be able to walk because of the reaction. It's like trying to run a car engine without any oil. The knee just swells and heats up, so unless I reinvent myself as an off-spinner, there is no way I can play again as a fast bowler unless someone can get to the bottom of the problem."

And Gough explained that the constant media speculation over his lifestyle was having a negative effect. "I was pictured with a beer in my hand at a Test match last summer, accompanied by some cheap comments, but nobody knows more than me just how frustrating this whole thing has been. But I have always been a positive sort of a guy and, if this really is the end for me as a cricketer, I'm not going to sit at home and mope."

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