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Is Darren Gough set for retirement? He has still not signed the contract Essex offered him at the end of last season. From it being just a matter of putting pen to paper for much of the winter it suddenly became ‘almost certain’ that he would sign a contract after he was left out of the provisional World Cup squad.

Essex’s chief executive David East told Cricinfo: “Darren Gough continues to indicate his intentions to play for Essex in 2007. It is true he has not signed a new contract yet but he will return from Australia soon and we expect it to be finalised then.”

Nevertheless, such uncertainty suggests he is now having doubts about whether he wants to continue to play now that he will purely be a county cricketer. It’s likely that Graham Gooch, the Essex coach, is having one last attempt to persuade him to play this season while they are playing beach cricket out in Australia. But the signs aren’t good.

He has already flatly denied news stories linking him with a move back to Yorkshire … but it’s not because of an over-eagerness to sign with Essex.

Source:The News