If Murray Goodwin has set himself any targets at the start of his seventh season with Sussex he is loathe to reveal them.

It is, however, safe to assume he will not be entirely happy come September if he is not top of the averages and the leading run-scorer again.

Sussex's unprecedented era of success has been based around stellar performances from a number of key individuals.

But it is not being unkind to his team-mates to say Sussex would not have won their second Championship in four seasons without Goodwin's impressive contribution in 2006.

He scored 1,649 Championship runs - more than 400 more than skipper Chris Adams, who was the only other Sussex player to pass 1,000 runs.

That aggregate included six hundreds (he was out for 99 in the title-clincher against Nottinghamshire) at an average of 63.42.

Sussex have come to rely on Goodwin for a hefty contribution since he joined Sussex in 2001, initially as an overseas player before reverting to a Kolpak registration in 2005.

If he regards it as a burden, it is one he carries easily.

And the good news, a week before the start of Sussex's title defence, is his appetite for run-scoring and for the hard work which has enabled him to be so consistently successful, remains as healthy as ever.

Goodwin has had just three weeks off since finishing his first season in South Africa with Easterns.

He flew to England yesterday but no sooner had he met up with his team-mates again he was organising an afternoon net.

Only five players scored more runs than Goodwin's 675 in South Africa's domestic four-day competition. He averaged 42.18 and scored two big hundreds. But he still admits he could have done better.

That is the attitude which separates the good players from the also-rans. Even at 34, and with the end of his career nearer than the start, the perpetual quest to improve is still driving Goodwin on.

He said: "What motivates me is that I'm still enjoying the challenge.

"It helps that I'm playing in a successful team but I like the challenge of testing myself and trying to keep getting better.

"I know that if I practise and prepare well then everything else should take care of itself. I try not to get too far ahead of myself and if I could pass on any bit of advice to our young players it would be that.

"I just try and take every ball, every session, every day and every game as it comes. It's a cliche I know but it's true. The moment you start getting ahead of yourself as an individual is the moment you have problems."

It is one of the ironies of the season that Goodwin and Co. will probably face their most demanding test before the Championship campaign has even begun.

A Test-quality attack including Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison and Ashley Giles, all with points to prove after a disappointing winter, will be the opposition when Sussex face the MCC in the traditional curtain-raiser to the new season at Lord's on Friday. Some players, even though they would not necessarily admit it, might prefer the confidence boost of facile runs against a student attack before the serious action starts against Kent. But Goodwin is not among them.

He said: "The challenge of playing current Test cricketers is definitely something which will spur me on.

"I'd much rather do that than get a load of runs against a university side. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I'd much rather play against a side who are going to challenge my skill level.

"At times during the first-class season, you don't get challenged as much as you would like. But the MCC side is quality opposition and I'm really looking forward to it."