Darren Gough could be included in the England line-up to meet Queensland in their last warm-up match before the first Test of the Ashes series. The Yorkshire fast bowler's recovery from injury has gone more quickly than expected since England's arrival in Australia, and he has bowled several sessions in spikes in the nets without any reaction from his troublesome knee.

Gough fielded for part of the final day of the drawn match against Western Australia in Perth and will have another workout tomorrow before England decide whether he will face Queensland.

"He's improving every day," said the England coach, Duncan Fletcher. "We put him on the field in the last match for a bit of fielding just to get some mileage into his legs, but we'll make a decision on Friday after he's had another good bowl."

Gough's Yorkshire teammate Michael Vaughan is also expected to make his comeback from recent knee surgery against Queensland, so there are several dilemmas over the exact composition of the side.

"The selection of this next three-day game is going to be very difficult," Fletcher admitted. "Nasser (Hussain) and I have got quite a difficult job trying to get the balance right.

"Who do we give a game to and get mileage into their legs, or do we pick the Test side? There are a lot of questions that need to be asked and we have to come up with some answers over the next few days.

"People say (Andrew) Caddick likes to bowl overs, but he bowled a lot in Perth and you have to be careful because he's our senior bowler at the moment. Those are the sort of decisions we have to make and we have to come up with an answer which hopefully will be the right answer, but we'll be hoping to play as close to the Test side as we can."

Meanwhile Andrew Flintoff, who joined up with the Academy in Adelaide to speed up his recovery from a double hernia operation, will also face a fitness test before a decision is made about whether he is fit enough for a three-day match. Fast bowler Simon Jones is keen to play against Queensland after impressing with a five-wicket second innings haul against Western Australia.

"He's slowly building up his confidence within himself, he looks more confident," said Fletcher. "He's been concerned about his line and length, but he's bowled with a lot of control since he's been here which is very encouraging.

"He's slowly built up his pace, but we don't want to rush these guys into things. We could have come out here and told him to bowl flat out and lost his line and length and it's very hard to get that back again.

"We've just tried to control him and just gradually build him up a little bit. He might get a game next week and hopefully he will be able to bowl a little bit quicker for longer spells which is important."

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