Ian Ward and Richard Montgomerie warmed up for the start of the Championship campaign with big hundreds at Hove yesterday.

The fact that they were scored against a limited Loughborough UCCE attack will be of little concern to the Sussex openers.

Confidence is everything for batsmen, especially at the start of the season, and the pair will feel good about their chances when the serious stuff gets underway against Surrey on Wednesday.

Montgomerie has got a monkey off his back after scoring his first first-class hundred for nearly two years. He passed 50 eight times last season without going on but there was never much danger of him falling short once he had helped Ward see off the new ball pair of Ryan Cummins and Nick Clewley.

Their stand of 294 was the seventh highest for the first wicket in Sussex history and only the 11th of over 250.

Ward, who reached his hundred 14 overs before his partner, also passed 8,000 career runs in the process. The left-hander accelerated from 100 to 150 off just 58 balls before chipping a catch to mid-wicket after facing 210 deliveries and hitting 16 boundaries and two sixes.

Montgomerie holed out on the stroke of tea, his 140 coming off 261 balls with 15 fours and two sixes.

Skipper Chris Adams missed out, caught and bowled off a leading edge, and if Tim Ambrose and Mike Yardy seemed to be proceeding with caution in the final session it was hardly surprising. The pair are vying for the remaining batting place against Surrey and this is the last chance to press their claims.

Meanwhile, director of cricket Peter Moores has confirmed that Johan van der Wath will be joining the county at the end of the month, although his arrival depends on the progress of his state side Eagles in South Africa's Twenty20 competition.