Rousing send-off expected for Gough

6:52am Friday 4th July 2008

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Darren Gough may have only been an Essex player for three seasons, but the self-styled Dazzler' built up quite a following during his time at the Ford County Ground.

Arguably now as famous for his ballroom dance moves as his inswinging yorker, the 37-year-old Yorkshire captain will retire from all cricket at the end of the summer.

And Gough, who played 58 Test matches and 159 One-Day Internationals for England, is sure to receive a rousing send-off when he leads his team out in Chelmsford tomorrow.

Gough took 145 wickets during three seasons in Essex, but returned to his home county - at the end of the 2006 season and has sparked a revival in Yorkshire's fortunes.

But the seamer still believes Essex are favourites going into tomorrow's clash.

"Essex are desperate to get there - we're desperate," he observed.

"They will be favourites but we've got some serious talent in our side and if everyone fires..."

Yorkshire would love him to continue as skipper in 2009, but the popular veteran knows it is the right time to hang up his spikes.

"When I came here, we were bottom, had just survived by half a point in the county championship, couldn't win a one-day game and had never been in a Twenty20 quarter-final," he said.

"I've come, we haven't signed any players, but we're doing a lot better.

"People said I was too old when I was brought back, that I wouldn't make a difference.

"Yorkshire think I've made a difference, the club want me to do it again but it's time for me to retire. Just like Essex, Yorkshire have not been to a Lord's final since 2002, and director of cricket Martyn Moxon is desperate for that run to end with victory tomorrow.

"We are one game away from a final at Lord's and they don't come much bigger than that," said Moxon.

"I think the captain Darren Gough knows his squad, but he'll make a final decision after looking at the pitch on Saturday morning.

"But it won't be a million miles away from the team which played in the quarter-finals, and I'm confident if we play to our best that we can win."

Moxon left Headingley in 2001, a season before the county beat Somerset in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy final.

Since then, Yorkshire have struggled in one-day cricket.

But the former England opening batsman believes that he and Gough can lead a club that has won 30 county championship titles, back to the glory days."Since we took over 18 months ago, it's a side of the game that we've worked hard on to try and improve.

"I'd like to think we're now more competitive in all forms of the game."