Give Montgomerie England chance, says opening partner

Sussex batsman Richard Montgomerie is being recommended for an England call-up - by his opening partner Murray Goodwin.

The pair both hit centuries yesterday in the Vodaphone Challenge match against the Australians at Hove to put on an opening stand of 202.

Though it may not have been the Australians' first-choice attack, Brett Lee was playing and had 117 runs taken off his 23 overs. Montgomerie's 157 was his seventh first-class hundred of the season and when he hit his 102nd run he reached the 2,000-mark for all cricket this summer.

Zimbabwe Test player Goodwin, who himself made 105 yesterday, said: "I'm absolutely amazed he has not been mentioned [for an England place], or even Kent's David Fulton. Richard has batted superbly well this whole year against all sorts of bowling - first division bowlers, second division bowlers.

"His strength is his concentration, and he has a lot of guts too. He's not one that when he's under a bit of pressure to throw it away. He'll work through it and no matter how long it takes he'll be there.

"I think they should give him a go, there's nothing to lose. No other batters are performing better than him and he's shown it against Australia.

"I think he needs the rewards for having a good year, any cricketer does, even though it is not on his mind and he's not talked about it at all. He'll never know if he doesn't get a go. Let's go for broke and pick guys like that who have been performing.

"He's got a lot of strengths. He complements me because bowlers don't want to deliver wide to me, that's my strength. So they try to bowl straighter to me. We feed off that and they bowl a bit wider to him."

As regards the game yesterday, Goodwin said: "The wicket was slow, and it would nullify any real pace the bowlers have, so it was a little bit easier for us. Brett Lee was putting it in, but the pitch suited us batters and not him."

With Steve Waugh out of the Headingley Test because of injury, Justin Langer will have been disappointed to have missed the opportunity to bat himself into the side, having been dismissed for just two by Billy Taylor.

If Simon Katich can impress with the bat today, he could get the nod for Headingley.

Meanwhile seamer Ashley Noffke suffered a ligament problem in his right ankle after treading on the ball trying to run out Montgomerie. His ainjury will be assessed over the next 24 hours.