Angry Gough is still not the retiring type

"The ball is coming out quite well for a 'medium-pacer' - about 88mph," he said this week following suggestions earlier this year that the old sharpness had gone.

Whatever keeps their vastly experienced fast bowler nicely fired up is all right by England, especially if he carries his current form into the Champions Trophy this week.

"I've always loved proving people wrong - that's the way I am," said Gough, who is the 19th bowler to reach 200 one-day wickets but the first from this country.

"There'll be a few people out there who have actually made themselves look quite silly at the moment - and I'm pleased.

"It's not their decision when I retire - it's my decision, along with the selectors and the captain. While I'm good enough, I want to play. And I am good enough.

"Glenn McGrath and Chris Cairns are both older than me but I don't see things in the papers saying they should pack in after the Champions Trophy. They'll go on.

"It seems to be an English thing and it does annoy me."

Gough is gaining so much pleasure from his cricket, with Essex and England, that he travels to Germany once a month for treatment from a world-famous sports injury specialist.

But even injecting a substance obtained from the crowns of cockerels may not keep Gough's knee going until the next World Cup, which is still two-and-a-half years away.

"Who knows who will be at the 2007 World Cup," said Gough.

"I think I deserve the opportunity if I carry on bowling the way I'm bowling, if I can keep my fitness up and my knee doesn't deteriorate

. . . but there are too many

ifs. I'm just looking to bowl and play and enjoy my cricket. And if I didn't play with England I wouldn't walk away and pack it in. I'd play for Essex. "I just want to enjoy my cricket and be left alone to enjoy it." Left alone? Surely some mistake, there.

Gough has always loved being in the limelight, be it at national or local level, and one suspects he would far rather be questioned than ignored - as happened last year when England left him out of their one-day squad for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Gough slated the selectors for a "lack of communication". But he was brought back for some matches in the West Indies and has bowled better the longer this season has gone on.

"Moving to Essex from Yorkshire in the winter was just what I needed," added Gough.

"Having a full season of county and international cricket has given me confidence and I've felt stronger and stronger. It takes time to come back from a careerthreatening knee injury."

But for those knee problems, Gough would probably have figured in this summer's seven straight Test victories over the West Indies and New Zealand.

No one has been more excited by the results, however.

"I've loved the Test successes," said Gough. "I'm chuffed to bits for the team. I'm an England supporter and I want England to be the best side in the world. Next year, if they have a chance to beat Australia, I'll try my hardest to be at the ground when they do it.

"It will be one of the proudest moments of my life, even though I won't be playing."

All that can wait, though. For the moment Gough is concentrating on being centre stage in the Champions Trophy, saying: "It would be brilliant if we could win it."