Has anyone given more to the Sussex cause in the last few years than James Kirtley?

Probably not. Which is why no one would begrudge the county's premier fast bowler if he were to achieve a dream double this summer.

Kirtley was denied an England Test debut for the third match running when the selectors opted to bring back Darren Gough for the opening dust-up against the South Africans at Edgbaston on Thursday.

But with doubts over the fitness records of both Gough and Somerset's Richard Johnson, it is surely a matter of when rather than if Kirtley gets his opportunity, even if he has to wait for the pre-Christmas tours to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

After he was released from the squad on Thursday morning, Kirtley headed up the M1 to Trent Bridge to try to make another of his dreams come true.

Sussex, 33-1 rank outsiders at the start of the season, are now the only county capable of sustaining a credible challenge to Surrey's dominance of the domestic game's blue riband.

Four wins in a row, culminating in last week's five-wicket success over bottom club Leicestershire, have moved the county to within five points of Surrey ahead of this weekend's tussle with Nottinghamshire.

And remember Adam Hollioake brings his side to Hove next week in what is shaping up to be the pivotal contest of the summer.

Kirtley is toeing the party line and who can blame him? Even after they had achieved a sixth Championship win out of nine at Grace Road no one inside the dressing room was prepared to concede, in public anyway, that the pennant might be fluttering over Hove for the first time in the competition's 113 year history.

He has known the bad times at Sussex. Like 1997 for instance when the county lost seven of their last nine fixtures to finish rock bottom in the days of the all-play Championship. Ironically, their only win came over Leicestershire and it was to be their last against the Foxes until last week.

Kirtley is desperate to play his part in helping Sussex pull off what would be a remarkable success. Just don't ask him to talk about winning the Championship!

"We don't want to start thinking too far ahead and, yes, the 'c' word is still banned in the dressing room," he said.

"What we have done so well this season is concentrated on the processes that win matches, no matter how long that takes.

"A lot of our games have been won in the last session of the last day which says a lot about our confidence and the belief in the squad. We're just not taking anything for granted."

The most consistent fast bowler in the country, Kirtley has taken 50 wickets or more for the past five seasons and it will not be long before he extends that sequence to six.

He already has 40 wickets, which makes him the leading pace bowler in Division One, moving on to 440 in his first-class career. At Horsham in May he made his 100th Championship appearance for the club. His target is 75-80 and, with another seven matches left, there is no reason why he should not reach it.

It all makes such a pleasant change from the dark days of six years ago when Kirtley was making his way in the game and the prospect of a first title seemed as long away as ever for the oldest first-class county.

"I've never played in a team with so much confidence and I must admit it makes a pleasant change," he added.

"It's just a fantastic dressing room to be part of at the moment. When we turned up on the last day at Leicester on Friday we had no doubt what the result was going to be, even though we still had to take five wickets and knew we would be chasing a tricky target."

When I asked him whether Sussex could win their first Championship Kirtley needed a few seconds to come up with a reply.

"I must admit, that is one question I never thought I'd be asked during my Sussex career," he laughed.

I'll make a confession as well. I never thought I'd be asking it!