DARREN Gough is commander-in-chief of England's stunning renaissance with Craig White still one of his country's first lieutenants, despite having to miss the Lord's triumph because of back problems.

But the supreme irony is that because of the time the pair are now forced to spend fighting England's battles they are often much less of a powerhouse on their occasional appearances with Yorkshire.

Indeed, some of Yorkshire's fans are beginning to wonder whether the county would be better off without them altogether in Championship matches.

Gough and White shouldn't be blamed for this situation because they respond to the pressures placed on them these days by giving every ounce of their energies to England.

Gone are the times when cricketers did their level best for their counties in the hope that a run of good performances would earn them an England place when the Test series started up later in the summer.

Central contracts mean that England have complete control over this elite group of 12 and a county appearance is little more than a warm-up or the chance for a player to work his way back to fitness after an injury.

It's a system which appears to be working well for England - although the Aussies have yet to arrive to put it to a serious test - but it still leaves Yorkshire followers feeling they are sometimes short-changed and that the side is not always made stronger by the inclusion of star Test bowlers.

Gough last Sunday added further to his status as the most popular and successful cricketer in the country with another epic performance for England which brought them an innings victory over Pakistan in the first Test at Lord's.

In shattering Pakistan with match figures of eight for 101, Gough also earned personal glory by joining the elite band of England cricketers who have bagged 200 Test wickets.

After reaching the landmark, Gough overtook John Snow on 202 and now has his sights set on Alec Bedser's haul of 236. The way he is playing at the moment don't bet against him doing it before the end of this summer's Ashes series.

Gough carries around in the lid of his 'coffin' a list of those England bowlers he has yet to overhaul and still to be scratched out are Ian Botham (383), Bob Willis (325), Fred Trueman (307), Derek Underwood (297), Brian Statham (252) and Bedser.

The name Gough would most like to run his pencil through is 'Fiery Fred', the first cricketer in the world to record 300 Test victims.

Fred, in his own blunt way, has not always had the kindest things to say about Goughie who would dearly love to replace him as the most successful Yorkshire-born Test bowler of all time.

Yorkshire fans, of course, also applaud the triumphs of Gough and White for England but some of them believe that they pay little more than lip service to the county under the present system and Gough was even barracked at Headingley during the Championship match with Somerset.

There was a feeling that Gough did not serve Yorkshire anywhere near so well as Andy Caddick served Somerset who won by 161 runs with Caddick taking ten wickets to Gough's three.

Gough returned some of the banter but the criticism upset him because he felt it was unjustified and he later re-iterated his loyalty to Yorkshire. "I always give 110 per cent and always will but you cannot take a lot of wickets in every game and that was the case against Somerset," he said.

With England insisting that Gough should rest up during the first couple of week's of the English season, it is hardly surprising that he was not as sharp as a razor. He is a different type of character to Caddick and needs to psyche himself up for the big encounter, so he will rarely be on top form on occasional Championship appearances for Yorkshire.

It is a different matter in important one-day matches when a big effort is required over a much shorter period of time and Gough unquestionably got his own back on Caddick on Wednesday when he out-bowled him in Yorkshire's B&H quarter-final clash with Somerset at Taunton.

But is selecting Gough or White for a Championship match in Yorkshire's best immediate interests when the pair are focussed largely on tuning up for a Test match?

White, who England will allow to play only as a batsman while his back problem remains, admitted this week that his batting form was not up to scratch and his sensible request to be included in the Second XI Championship match against Worcestershire Seconds at Scarborough was readily accepted. However, injury to Darren Lehmann forced him into a senior return yesterday.

For Yorkshire to adopt a general policy of letting their Test fast bowlers prepare for England combat in the second team rather than the first would be an extremely sensible solution to a complex problem.

That way they would receive all the match practise they needed without being asked to do more hard work than they thought was necessary.

Updated: 11:30 Saturday, May 26, 2001