Darren Gough enters tomorrow's deciding Test against Sri Lanka looking to add further evidence to the campaign for central contracts by taking a step closer to a personal objective he has been working towards for four years.

As coach Duncan Fletcher and chairman of selectors David Graveney sit down for preliminary discussions about next summer's contract scheme this week, Gough represents the finest possible advert for their success.

Fletcher is campaigning to increase the number from last summer's 12 to 15 to take on Pakistan and Australia this summer, a request which may face opposition from counties because of the cost involved in taking a further three players out of the domestic game and onto the England and Wales Cricket Board payroll.

But they need only look at the new lease of life Gough has received since the scheme was introduced to realise the impact it has had on England's revival over the last year, with the partnership between captain Nasser Hussain and Fletcher suffering only two Test defeats from their last 12 matches.

Since being given a contract Gough has been available for every one of those Tests, which contrasts starkly with his injury record prior to their inception, and has taken 53 wickets at an average of 22.45 including 19 wickets on the spin-friendly surfaces of the sub-continent this winter.

Gough said: ''I've been looked after well over this last 12 months. There were doubts about central contracts but the way Nasser and Duncan have looked after me between games has been brilliant.

''They ask me if I want to play, do I need to play and they've looked after me well. I've hardly played any games in between Test cricket in the last year and a half.''

''I want to go on playing for another two or three years but I want to be playing when I'm still strong and fit. I have thought about having a rest in the future but at the moment my body feels good.

''It will be a long summer this year against Australia and if I'm still feeling as if I've got plenty of energy, I'm bowling well and I'm picked then we'll have to wait and see.

''You want to play for England as many times as you can and you want to keep going. You don't want to miss series unless you have to because I consider myself lucky to have played as many Tests as I have.''

Gough is expected to take his place in an unchanged attack for the encounter, but England have bigger decisions to make about the batting order.

Graeme Hick's failure to make an impression in either innings during the three-wicket win has increased the pressure on him after only one half-century in the last 19 Test innings stretching back to the start of last summer and England may decide the time is right to recall Michael Vaughan. The decision, though, may be made for them by the fitness of captain Hussain, who sustained an injury to his left groin during the last Test