By Scott Heinrich BBC Sport Online

Selecting Darren Gough in the Ashes squad was a risk the England selectors simply had to take.

Just as they were compelled to do that, they are now equally compelled to contemplate life without the bowler generally regarded as England's best of the modern era.

Gough's England career in pictures

For Gough, of 32 years and one good leg, may well have played his last Test match for England.

There is little doubt that the sparkle in Dazzler's eye remains.

But out of Tests for over a year and with just a few one-day internationals behind him in that period, Gough is fast running out of time to make a brave comeback.

Hope will spring eternal in England that the Yorkshireman is not lost to the national team.

But even a full and miraculous recovery from his knee injury won't guarantee a return to the Gough of old.

Gough's rehab has amounted to nought

In addition, the emergence of talents such as Matthew Hoggard and the similarly incapacitated Simon Jones means for Gough the future is already here.

But the here and now for England is the task of overturning a 1-0 deficit without the wildcard of Gough up their sleeve.

Though his overall record against Australia - 30 wickets at 30 runs each - is not great, the bare statistics do not do justice to Gough's relevance to an Ashes series.

Never-say-die

Hugely respected in Australia, Gough has always been viewed there as antithetical to the faint-hearted campaigns England have often launched.

He has always relished taking on the best - and the red-faced, sweaty figure standing ready at the top of his run has always warranted respect.

But there were signs in the 2001 Ashes series that his mental fortitude was beginning to wane.

Gough suffers most when England's catching skills go missing.

Gough slumps after Gilchrist is dropped again at Lord's

The forced smile and puffed-chest reaction with which Gough has normally met such let-downs was absent when Adam Gilchrist was dropped four times in one session off his bowling at Lord's.

For the first time, Gough's cocky swagger was replaced by the sort of disillusionment that the ultra-competitive Australians feed off.

There was hope to be drawn from Australia's mid-order collapse in Brisbane, but that just makes Gough's unavailability all the harder for England to swallow.

The World Cup will come and go without Gough's participation, but it may not be premature to write Gough off altogether.

His knee notwithstanding, Gough's body is in good order for a 30-something fast bowler.

Barring his absence from the 1997/98 tour of West Indies and the entire 1999 summer, Gough has enjoyed a fair run since his Test debut in 1994.

Crossroads

His action, though not as economical as Glenn McGrath or Courtney Walsh, is kind on his stocky frame and he can take heart from the longevity of the above-named pair.

What is more, Gough is thoughtful enough to off-set the drop in pace that besets any ageing quick.

But what comes of Gough in the future may depend more on his commitment to recovery than his dodgy knee.

Gough says he hopes for the best but expects the worse.

If expectancy turns to acceptance over the coming months it could be that Gough is resigned to the shelf, remembered and loved but no longer of use.