Gough in No Need of Knee Operation

Darren Gough has returned from Colorado in high hopes that, at 32, his career may not after all be over. The Yorkshire and England fast bowler learned that he will not need a fourth operation on his knee.

He will, however, need rehab and, if he is ever to return to international action, that means harder work than he seemed disposed to in the run-up to the Ashes series from which he returned this month without taking part.

Gough flew to Colorado for a consultation with the knee specialist Richard Steadman, surgeon to the United States ski team, who has resurrected the careers of Ronaldo and Alan Shearer and has recently been visited by lesser footballers in the news, Craig Bellamy and Alfie Haaland.

He returned full of optimism. "I still believe when I come back I will be the same Darren Gough who left and I will be fitter and stronger."

Gough has bowled no more than a handful of overs in the past year and believes now he should have avoided the temptation to get back to action last summer. The result was a fleeting appearance in England's NatWest Series one-day campaign, then a recurrence of the injury that has ruined his winter.

"I should probably have said, 'I am not going to play this summer and I will get my leg back strong,'" he said yesterday. "But you are always under pressure to get back on the field, from yourself as much as other people. Now it is time for me to take time out and make sure Darren Gough is right."

Some might say he has taken plenty of time out; and it is always disturbing to hear sportsmen talk of themselves in the third person. Now it is time for him to show that his big heart is bigger than ever.

Derbyshire have signed the New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle as their second overseas player for 2003. The 31-year-old holds the record for the fastest Test match double century, scoring 222 from 153 balls against England last winter.

Astle, who previously had a stint with Nottinghamshire, has topped 3,000 Test runs and 5,000 one-day international runs and also bowls medium pace. He will not be available until June because he will be touring Sri Lanka with New Zealand until May 31.

The Zimbabwe all-rounder Grant Flower has been fined half his match fee and given an official warning under the ICC code of conduct rules for using obscene language to Pakistan's Taufeeq Umar and gesturing aggressively towards the pavilion when the opener was dismissed in Wednesday's one- day match in Harare.

Flower was reported by the Zimbabwe umpire Kevan Barbour to the ICC match referee Clive Lloyd, who disciplined the player over comments and actions made upon Taufeeq's dismissal.