Gough agrees short-term Yorkshire deal

Darren Gough will be playing for Yorkshire again this summer and, according to the man himself, for England too. The county confirmed at Headingley yesterday that the 32-year-old fast bowler will be offered a contract that in effect puts him on a three-month trial. If he proves his fitness he will then be offered a new playing contract; if he takes so many wickets that he is recalled by England then Yorkshire have another bridge to cross.

This has been a tricky decision for Yorkshire's new regime. Could a club £7m in the red afford to keep on an expensive player whose fitness would be a gamble? In his 13-year-career Gough has taken 236 first-class wickets for Yorkshire, just eight less than his total of Test wickets, an indication, it will be said by his critics, of where his priorities lay. But if Yorkshire had not given him what one official said was a place in "a last chance saloon" they would have been roundly criticised for turning their back on Gough.

Privately they have been pleased with his recent progress. For 15 weeks he has been in the care of the physiotherapist, Wayne Morton, and the bowling coach, Steve Oldham, and has been bowling off his full run in the indoor nets with no adverse reaction. Gough was his old ebullient self, just back from Wetherby races, at the press conference. "I'm England's best bowler," he said. " That's what keeps me going. If I didn't think I could get back in the England side I'd pack it in. I'm not setting myself any targets but I hope to be back in the Yorkshire side very soon."

Gavin Hamilton, the all-rounder who missed all of last summer through injury, has also impressed and, the cricket director, Geoff Cope, said: "If we have Goughie and Gavin back to full fitness it will be like having two new players – and two bloody good players, too."

This is what lies behind Yorkshire's decision not to engage a second overseas player after they received the news yesterday that Darren Lehmann had been chosen for the Australian tour of the West Indies, which does not end until June. "We have spoken to Darren," Cope said, "and agreed that he should have this summer away and that we will then talk to him about the following year."

Yorkshire will, therefore, have the Australian batsman Matt Elliott as their sole overseas player in their attempt to regain First Division status. They have also signed another seam bowler, Pieter Swanepoel, a South African all-rounder with English qualification, so competition for first-team places should be fierce.