Montgomerie celebrates his century against Australia

Yet he may be overlooked because he is not the most fashionable player going around.

The perception of a player like Montgomerie may be that he is a prolific run scorer in county cricket, but that he is not ready to play Test cricket.

He is a great example of one of the problems facing the ECB as they attempt to improve the standard of county cricket.

Pitch battles

Day in day out, a player like Montgomerie plays county cricket on pitches like we are playing on at Hove this week.

The surface is very, very slow, with very low bounce and a lightning fast outfield.

The chance for someone like Richard Montgomerie to develop a technique and temperament ready for Test cricket is limited.

After all, he will rarely be placed under the same pressure that he could expect when he enters the Test arena.

Although Brett Lee, Damien Fleming and Ashley Noffke were bowling their hearts out, the ball rarely lifted above bail height.

And the pace of the ball gave scant encouragement for the bowlers trying to build pressure on the batsmen.

The reality of Test cricket is that the pitches usually gives some assistance to the fast bowler and, as a batsman at that level, you can expect to play a large majority of balls faced off the back foot.

If a county batsman is rarely tested on the back foot, then it is unreasonable to expect them to be able to do it at the highest level.

This is a problem in this country, and it would be fair to say, apart from a few of the English batsmen, this is a reason for the relative lack of success when they play Test cricket.

Formula for success

The ECB is trying to work out the best formula for English cricket, and the state of pitches and practice facilities should be high on the agenda.

It is not Richard Montgomerie's fault that he plays on a slow, lifeless pitch for the majority of his summer, but it is a problem with the system that needs to be addressed.

A player like Montgomerie may deserve a chance because he is a consistent run scorer.

But in my humble opinion the system is cheating him because the chances are he will not be totally prepared technically for the next step.

Like so many other players in the county system, they are likely to be caught short unless they are toughened physically and mentally in the nursery for Test cricket which ideally should be county cricket.

Having played three years in the county system, and after watching another Montgomerie-style hundred on Wednesday, I have no doubt that a change needs to be made.

Unfortunately the rain intervened on Thursday, and while this factor alone is an uncontrollable frustration in this country, we will need to pray for a brighter day on Friday to help entertain another disappointed crowd at Hove.

From Sussex

JL