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CRICKET ROADSHOWS

Week 4 Review - 1 Jun, Edgbaston Gough vows to start anew

England and Yorkshire fast bowler Darren Gough has reaffirmed his intention to continue playing international cricket for another four years.

Speaking on Channel 4's Cricket Roadshow Gough said his current injury problems had rejuvenated his hunger for the game and put previous plans to retire firmly on the back burner.

"Having the time off made me change my mind," confirmed England's talismanic strike bowler. "You go through a spell when you're playing cricket non-stop and I thought 'I'm not sure I can do this much longer', but I think that break mentally has changed me totally.

"Having not been playing for so long I now miss it so much. You only realize when you have time off that you can't wait to get back because you're more refreshed mentally and physically and you just want to play. It's a great game and I want to play it for a long time."

But before he can return to his beloved Test career Gough has to fully recover from the knee operation which has so far blighted his summer.

"When I had my first operation we were looking at six weeks and playing again but it's now been 14 weeks and I've still not played and it's probably going to be another four, so it's been a long haul. But you get injuries and set-backs in your career and it always makes it a challenge when you're coming back.

"If I didn't want to play anymore I wouldn't be doing this and if it means me having another operation down the line I'd have that as well because there's only one thing I want to do and that's play cricket. I started to talk about the possibility of retiring last year but the way I feel at the minute that's not even in my mind. I just want to get back and play for as long as I can," said Gough.

It's been a difficult past six months for Gough with his injury and the break-up of his marriage and he sympathizes with players breaking through into today's packed international itinerary.

"The only way you can do it - maintain a marriage - is by having split tours and coming home in between but with the amount of cricket being played it's impossible to do it. This winter when you look at it it's non-stop between September 12 and March 31. I think we come home for two weeks but what can you do," he asked.

Gough himself has missed 34 Tests through injury since making his debut in 1994 and he feels future players will necessarily have shorter careers.

"They're going to be fine financially but their bodies are going to take some stick. You've got non-stop cricket, if you're playing both Tests and one-day internationals, and there's not many bowlers going to last nine or 10 years like they have been. I've done well because I've played cricket since I was 18 and now I'm 31 and I'm hoping to play for another four years. If I can do that it will be an amazing career I've had."

His comments were backed up by former England bowler Angus Fraser, another who suffered from injuries during his career.

"England players in the past have had a bit of time off but nowadays with one day tournaments here, there and everywhere the workload is just increasing and therefore the chances of injury are increasing because it is a demanding job and sooner or later you're going to damage something," he said.

"For a fast bowler there's an element of luck involved. You're body is either strong enough or it's not strong enough," added the former Middlesex man.

Elsewhere on the programme Dougie Brown displayed his versatility when re-enacting the life of a county cricketer 100 years ago, the thorny question of increasing numbers of overseas players was investigated and Sybil Ruscoe gave a brief insight into the burgeoning market for cricket memorabilia.

Alex Jeremy Tudor was featured on the "60 seconds with Slats", revealing his nickname (Bambi), his care (a Freelander), his favourite holiday destination (Barbados), movie (Heat), band (Jacksons), food (rice and peas), drink (blackcurrant and lemonade), cricketing highlight (5-44 v Australia at Trent Bridge last year) and best piece of advice he'd received ("To just run in, don't worry about anything and bowl fast" from Graham Dilley).

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