Smiling, swaggering, swinging

He shouldered his way into Test cricket with a smile and a swagger, biffing 65 against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1994. Then he added a wicket with his fifth ball: Darren Gough had landed.

The manner of his leaving, though, was less spectacular. Two matches against South Africa brought him just one wicket for 215 runs, and Goughie has given in to a long-standing knee injury and retired from Test cricket. Actually it was a triumph that he made it back at all - his previous Test was nearly two years ago, at The Oval in 2001, and that's a long time for a fast bowler the wrong side of 30.

Yorkshire grit helped along the comeback trail, which included an unwise attempt at a third Ashes tour last winter. One injured soldier might have been all right, but England started the campaign with four or five, and the sight of Gough hobbling home without playing a meaningful part was sadly predictable. But still he battled on, nursing that knee back to something resembling fitness. But there was something missing. The approach wasn't quite as bouncy, the swing wasn't quite as late, the speedo wasn't sliding quite as close to 90-plus ... the wasp had lost his sting.

Gough admitted today: "My career is based on being a strike bowler and being the one the captain always turned to in time of need, but I've found the last two matches hard going both mentally and physically - not just on playing days but also against the backdrop of the effort I've put in over the last eight months to get back to this stage. It has become apparent to me, no matter what my heart, head or public want me to do, that my knee will not allow me to play Test match cricket."

He departs with 229 Test wickets, currently eighth on England's alltime list. He sits just below his longtime new-ball partner Andy Caddick, who is seventh with 234 and unlikely to add to that himself after sitting out this season with a back injury. But for a couple of years, when Gough's fragile joints and Caddick's fragile psyche allowed, they were as good an opening pair as England have had. They dominated the 2000 series against West Indies, not a bad effort considering the opposition included Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.

The contrasts helped. Gough charged in, chest out, arms pistoning, that lowish slingy action skidding the ball into the batsman's breadbasket at high speed or, later, reverse-swinging it into the toes - while Caddick loped in, his arm ending up a foot or two higher than Gough's, extracting extra bounce while moving the ball around at quite a clip.

One of Gough's major achievements was to have been accepted Down Under as almost an honorary Aussie. He's almost as popular in Brisbane as in his native Barnsley. The Australians loved the way Goughie barrelled in. They liked the way he smiled when things went right, as when he carted 51 and took 6 for 49 at Sydney in 1994-95, or grabbed a high-octane hat-trick there four years later. And they especially liked the way he still smiled when things didn't quite go so well.

And that's how English cricket lovers should remember Darren Gough too - the fast bowler who smiled. It's not quite the end of the story: he can still manage his ten overs in a one-day game, and he is hoping, rather optimistically, that he'll still be around for the next World Cup, in 2007. But Goughie will be 36 by then, and his knee will be about 109. Savour that smile while you can.