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Fears are growing that Darren Gough may miss the rest of the series against New Zealand and struggle to prove his fitness for the winter tour of South Africa.

The England fast bowler will seek a second opinion from a specialist in Leeds today in an attempt to discover if there is any appropriate treatment for the left calf muscle which troubles him.

However, if the pain is caused by the wear and tear of 31 Tests, 61 limited-overs internationals and 111 first-class matches for Yorkshire during a 10-year career, a long lay-off may be the only cure.

The burly Gough, 28, lands on the ball of his left foot and this places added strain on the calf muscle. The original injury was shown by a scan to be two tears but a subsequent examination proved both were healed.

Gough declared himself fit for the championship match against Warwickshire and yesterday Yorkshire were at pains to point out that they did not insist he play at Edgbaston.

``It has always been our policy to leave it up to Darren,'' Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's director of coaching, said. ``There was no pressure put on him at all. He said he was fit, wanted to play and the physios could see no reason why he shouldn't after the result of the scan. It was entirely his decision. Gough played without any recurrence of the problem but felt pain in the calf at nets before the CGU match with Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

``We must see if the specialist can detect any other damage to the muscle which is treatable,'' Moxon said.