DARREN GOUGH believes he can help restore the Yorkshire glory days after making a surprise return to his home county as captain.

The 36-year-old veteran fast bowler was unveiled as Yorkshire's new skipper yesterday, three years after he left the club for Essex.

Gough's appointment is seen as the jolt of good news the club needs after a turbulent winter off the field.

The club were embarrassed when Sussex's Chris Adams accepted, but then declined the captaincy, have been embroiled in a contract dispute with Anthony McGrath and are still to name a new director of cricket.

On the field, the team only survived relegation in the County Championship in the last game of the season but Gough (pictured left), who takes the reins from Craig White who will concentrate on his batting role this season, is confident he can spearhead a revival.

Gough, who has signed a two-year contract with a 12-month exit option, said: "Hopefully by the time I leave here, whether it be two or three years, we have got the structure to go on and win trophies like we used to years ago.

"I'm prepared to take the long road to get it. I'm not looking for a quick fix. I am looking for things to help this club for the next five, 10, 20 years.

"I want to bring back that enjoyment that everyone associates with Yorkshire County Cricket Club."

The move could reinvigorate Gough's career after his international ambitions were effectively ended by his omission from England's World Cup squad.

Gough had harboured hopes of travelling to the Caribbean and has revealed he was even sounded out despite being left out of the initial 30-man squad for the tournament.

Gough's fitness had initially been deemed to be an issue but England's dismal form early in the recent Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia brought him back into the reckoning.

"I was very disappointed to be left out," said Gough, England's leading one-day wicket-taker with 235 victims.

"The reasons that were given, that I failed a fitness test, were out of order and were totally false. An apology followed.

"But then I got the phone call - which I have denied until today - that they had asked to go outside of the 30.

"I was told I was just about there, in the England squad, but England then won the last four matches and things soon got changed. So I just missed out.

"I wish I was there but I wish England all the best. I think they have got some good players."

* THE chief executive of the International Cricket Council has confirmed that the organisation will 'target test' players for banned substances in the forthcoming World Cup.

Malcolm Speed has announced that in addition to the standard four random tests at each match, 17 fixtures will be picked by the ICC for additional testing.

The decision to target test has been taken in the wake of Pakistan players Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif testing positive for banned substances last year.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) withdrew the two players from the ICC Champions Trophy in October as a result of internal tests, but the PCB's subsequent banning of the pair was overturned on appeal.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is still challenging that result with the Court of Arbitration for Sport but both players are to appear for Pakistan at the World Cup.

Speed said: "Both Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have played for Pakistan over the past few months despite testing positive for prohibited substances last year.

"That is a fact neither player has disputed and it is also a fact that has caused the game a high level of embarrassment as a result.

"We want to make absolutely sure that all players who take part in the ICC Cricket World Cup do so on the basis that they are free from banned substances," he said.

"If a player does have anything in his system then there is a very strong possibility he will be caught out. And if that happens he will face a charge under the ICC Code of Conduct. This underlines our continuing commitment to maintaining a zero tolerance of drugs in cricket."

Australia opener Matthew Hayden had earlier questioned the stance taken by the game's powerbrokers over the current doping procedures.

"It's a laughable point amongst our players because we've worked very hard to be clean athletes. It's ludicrous and it's not fair," he said.