Gough will catch Caddick

But even an extensive workout for Yorkshire might not be enough to persuade the men that matter. Gough has not played in a Test match for two years and, frankly, England appear to have moved on without him.

James Anderson is more than settled as one new-ball bowler and must be left to continue his remarkable development. Richard Johnson took six wickets on his debut against Zimbabwe and has bowled admirably straight in the NatWest series. He did not look particularly potent in Zimbabwe's second innings at Chester-le-Street, but it seems inconceivable that he would be dropped after such an impressive start.

Granted, Steve Harmison has plenty of room for improvement, but he is the fastest fit bowler in England - Simon Jones might outpace him when he returns - and although Matthew Hoggard is also recovering from injury, his hard work and commitment in the recent past has earned him a healthy surplus of selectorial brownie points.

So Gough will be bursting to impress next week, and Durham's batsmen might be advised to give their helmets a mid-season MOT before the match. And if Gough does return to Test cricket and gets wickets, I would not mind a small wager on Caddick reviewing his preference to stay at home this winter and opting, instead, to tour Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies!

Thorpe is still the key

England have made it through to the final of the NatWest triangular series, but the selectors have been left with more questions than answers. The young players who were introduced to the squad after England's early demise in the World Cup have hardly set the world alight, and victory over Zimbabwe yesterday was accomplished without either James Troughton or Robert Key in the team.

Troughton has had more chances than Key in the series, but has scored only 31 runs in four attempts with 20 of them coming in one innings. Key has played in only two games and scored a total of 11.

Their failure to rise to the big occasion leaves the selectors with a problem. While there has been plenty of talk about recalling Graham Thorpe to the middle order, this is a pointless exercise until the troubled lefthander commits himself to touring this winter. There are one-day series in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies, and it is clear that Thorpe would walk into this team if he makes himself available.

In the meantime, spare a thought for people who have bought tickets for England's match against South Africa at Edgbaston tomorrow or South Africa's game against Zimbabwe at the Rose Bowl on Thursday. These are both dead matches after so much one-day cricket already this summer. The NatWest series might make money, but it seldom goes down to the wire.

Laying down the law to Cork

Professional cricketers are amazingly ignorant of the game's complicated laws. As a young county player, I was never told by my employers to read the rules of the game that was my livelihood. How wrong that was - rather like a long-distance lorry driver not knowing the Highway Code.

You can count on the fingers of one hand the county and international cricketers who have a copy of the laws in their bags, and it is simply left to the umpires on the field to adjudicate and implement the rules and regulations as required.

This ignorance even spreads to basic aspects of the game such as the taking of a catch, and possibly explains - but certainly does not excuse - Dominic Cork's outburst at Grace Road during a Twenty20 Cup match, which has resulted in him being hauled before a disciplinary hearing at Lord's.

The incident was provoked by Leicestershire's Brad Hodge running over the boundary to celebrate with the crowd after taking a catch several yards inside the rope.

When he ran over the boundary, the catch - according to eye witnesses - had been completed. The law states that the fielder needs to have "complete control both over the ball and over his own movements".

But a fielder will sometimes continue running in celebration. The official interpretation is that the catch has been completed so long as the umpire is satisfied that the fielder was in control of his running - as umpire Roy Palmer was at Grace Road.

Despite this, Cork, Derbyshire's captain, has labelled Hodge a cheat and called Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the ECB, "pathetic" when he ruled out any possibility of changing the result of the game.

Hodge and Lamb believe they deserve apologies and, whatever the outcome of the hearing, Cork should be given something he should have received when he signed his first contract with Derbyshire: a copy of the splendid Tom Smith's Cricket Umpiring and Scoring book which explains the laws of cricket in a manner that even players will be able to understand.