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Nasser Hussain, the England captain, yesterday gave the strongest indication that one of England's bowlers from the victorious first Test team at Edgbaston will be dropped - provided Darren Gough can prove his fitness before the second Test against New Zealand at Lord's on July 22.

Speaking at Lord's, where he was helping to launch a new grass-roots cricket initiative, Hussain said: ``We spoke after the Edgbaston win with Wayne Morton, the Yorkshire and England physiotherapist, about Gough. We don't want to rush him back because he's a key man for us. But if Gough is 100 per cent fit then he'll play because he's our number one. We've got to look to win every Test match and I know that England are a better side with Darren Gough running in with the new ball.''

Gough missed the first Test with a calf strain. Yorkshire do not have a first-class match until they play Warwickshire on July 13, by which time the fast bowler will hope to be leading their attack.

Yesterday Hussain was at Lord's, together with Middlesex captain and England team-mate Mark Ramprakash, to help to unveil Improving the Health of English Cricket, a joint initiative between County Championship sponsors PPP Healthcare and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Provided their project is approved by a panel of experts, each first-class county will receive a grant of £2,000 from PPP to help with the development of grass-roots cricket. The top three schemes, in the opinion of the panel, will be eligible for further grants of £6,000, £5,000 and £4,000 respectively. The scheme will run concurrently with PPP's four-year sponsorship of the championship. Every county will be able to submit a new scheme each year. The panel, including representatives of the ECB, PPP and cricket journalists, will be appointed by the end of this month.

There will be further opportunities for more funding from an 'affinity' scheme. If county members take out a PPP scheme a percentage of their money will go specifically towards the funding of grass-roots schemes.

In the wake of the World Cup much has been made of the need to tap into the cricketing talent of Britain's Asian community. But Hussain, born in Madras, emphasised that selection for England must be on merit alone.