Darren Gough sounds a little out of breath. He has just attended a sponsor's function in Reading, where he officially opened the Barclays Spaces for Sport site, before undertaking a fresh batch of PR duties in Leeds, then fulfilling another invitation in his new role as captain of Yorkshire CCC. On his route to Headingley, there were constant requests for autographs, questions on how his tango and rumba were progressing, and a string of encounters with tremulous old ladies, straight from an Alan Bennett tableau, who vaguely recognised the face, but were vexed about the name.

"It's crazy at the moment. Hectic, really, really busy," said Gough, a bustling coiled spring of frenetic energy, who makes no secret of the fact that he savours the celebrity which he has acquired since becoming the first winner of the reality TV programme Strictly Come Dancing in 2005.

"Wherever I go these days, I seem to find myself in the middle of crowds and the conversation frequently turns to why cricketers make good dancers his fellow England internationalist, Mark Ramprakash, triumphed in the second series and I have to scratch my head. I suppose we have rhythm, we are competitive and we are used to moving around and jumping and diving all over the place, and I guess we recognise that we have to live with a bit of ribbing in our sport, so we can take all these qualities on to the floor.

"Personally, I love the way things have gone in the last 18 months, because I had no idea that the show would be so popular, but I am putting all the non-cricket stuff on the back burner for the next few months. This is a massive job, it's a dream come true for me, but I know if I don't offer 100%, I'll soon hear about it."

Gough's return to his roots, following three years in exile at Essex - reportedly, he didn't enjoy a harmonious relationship with the former Yorkshire coach, David Byas - has the potential to end in a windfall or a catastrophe, both for him and his employers, but the chances are that the journey will not be boring.

For the past decade, this Barnsley-born stalwart has thrived on adrenaline and aggression, defying a string of injuries to amass 229 Test wickets, and, despite not representing his country at the highest level since 2003, his death bowling still remains amongst the best in the business.

Tomorrow, he will bring a star-studded squad to Edinburgh, as Yorkshire prepare to lock horns with the Scottish Saltires in the Friends Provident Trophy, and although one would hardly suppose that any professional contingent containing individuals of the calibre of Michael Vaughan, Jason Gillespie, Younis Khan, Matthew Hoggard, Craig White, Jacques Rudolph and Gough, would be apprehensive at the prospect, the skipper has witnessed enough shocks in his domain to appreciate his men must avoid any complacency.

"I've played the Scots a few times in my career and none of the matches has been easy, so we are not expecting anything other than a tough battle on Sunday. John Blain the experienced Saltires paceman was at Yorkshire, as was Gavin Hamilton who misses this fixture, and they are both fine cricketers, and we recognise some of the other names in the squad, so this will be a test for us.

"To be honest, Yorkshire can't afford to take anybody lightly, given the expectations of the public," said the 36 year-old, who has signed a two-year contract with a 12-month exit option.

"I know that your guys struggled at the World Cup, but anybody drawn in the same group as Australia and South Africa would have been toiling, so I don't put too much importance on the results in the Caribbean. If anything, this will be the first opportunity which the Scots guys have had to throw off their frustration at what happened in the winter and I would imagine that they will come out in front of their fans, all guns blazing. We have to be ready for that."

As one of life's eternal optimists, Gough is vociferously upbeat and committed to accentuating the positive. None the less, he recognises that the likes of Scotland and Ireland are inevitably bound to labour in the present circumstances where doughty, but part-time, warriors are being asked to tackle opponents who can concentrate exclusively on their sport. Tomorrow, for example, he will have the luxury of resting a couple of his leading luminaries, whereas the Saltires have managed the princely haul of one day's outdoor action in the prelude to meeting the Tykes.

It's not a level playing field, it never has been, and until the authorities acknowledge that factor, Scotland's situation will continue to resemble a mountaineer climbing Everest with a piano on his back.

"There are no quick fixes without proper investment and support from the ICC, and I reckon the administrators should be working urgently to establish a second division of Test cricket for the likes of Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Canada, where these teams are involved in regular matches, and they are participating for four or five days a week, for a sustained period, because it's daft to think that players, who are going back to their normal jobs for six months of every year, can remain as competitive as the countries with full-time structures," said Gough.

"From my viewpoint, it was actually quite hard watching some of the World Cup games, because it isn't pleasurable when people are trying their hardest and yet there is obviously a big gulf in class, through no fault of their own. The only means of bridging that gap is to offer the best of the new teams a platform from which they can create a professional set-up and that can't happen until there is a fixture list drawn up, featuring all the ICC's associate members, which allows the most ambitious countries to chase promotion to the top flight.

"That's not to say Scotland can't claim a major scalp occasionally - as Ireland did with Pakistan - but these will be one-offs unless the current structure is changed. I hope the powers-that-be see that."

One hesitates to insert the words "foresight" and "Malcolm Speed" in the same sentence, yet Gough is surely correct in his assessment. However, from his perspective, the priority has to lie in the visitors at the Grange tomorrow being ultra-efficient and building on their opening-day victory in the tournament last weekend.

"What matters now is Yorkshire and the lot of us performing to the peak of our ability for a prolonged spell. That hasn't materialised in recent seasons and we have to turn things around because our fans are demanding better displays, and looking for trophies, and they are entitled to do that.

"We are the cricketing equivalent of Liverpool or Manchester United: everybody in the community knows the history and the tradition, and we have to be inspired by that challenge, rather than intimidated. Yes, we have the firepower, and I am as excited as anybody - Yorkshire cricket is in my veins - but we can't afford to live in the past. This isn't about England or Darren Gough. This is about Yorkshire, the county which I have wanted to captain all my life, and it gives me a thrill even to start talking about it."

The message to the Saltires could scarcely be clearer; namely that the once-frazzled Dazzler is in his pomp again. One suspects that a further dose of reality torment awaits the hosts and we aren't referring to Strictly Come Dancing.