Stiaan Van Zyl has targeted 1,000 runs and a Championship promotion push with Sussex.

And the fit-again batsman will have extra reason to savour the moment if those wishes come true.

Van Zyl, pictured, is still treading a little carefully after missing most of last season with a knee injury.

A century against Cardiff MCCU this week proved he is fit and ready for the Championship opener at home to Leicestershire tomorrow.

But Sussex will keep a close eye on the South African run-maker, whose upper order presence could be key to taking them back to the top flight.

Van Zyl might feel like a new signing for head coach Jason Gillespie, who saw very little of him in his first year at the helm. The batsman plans to stick around rather longer than in 2018, when a problem which flared in April ultimately cost him most of the season.

Van Zyl told The Argus: “It’s just bone bruising of the right knee cap, the knee which has to bend the most. It’s not a common thing but it just happened over time with me playing seasons here and in South Africa without any rest.

“Apparently it started about two years ago and, without rest, it just got worse and worse. It was too much pain to play on with so I had to be out for a certain amount of time.

“This was my first injury in a 12-year career.

“I didn’t know if it was going to be two weeks or four weeks so you hope for the best. A month came and went and then two months came and went and the pain didn’t go away.

“It was quite a frustrating one, not knowing from the start, ‘Listen it’s going to be two-month thing’ or something like that. In the end I went home a month early.

“We went for a scan and the specialist asked how much of the season was left. When we said about a month, he told me to go home and chill.

“I wasn’t allowed to play any cricket for the Cobras back home, I had to pull out of my Twenty20 contract in Bangladesh, just to rest up and be fit for this season.

“We did everything we could and now the bruising has gone away quite nicely.

“There is still a little bit there so it is just a case of managing my workload. It’s a new thing for me and it’s a new thing for the physios “If I’m going to have a good four days – meaning be in the field for a full day, then scoring 200 or a big score and not getting a lot of rest in between – it could then mean sitting out one game.

“But we don’t really know. It’s about playing and training and being honest.

“If there is something there, then tell the physios. On a positive note, I’m fine, I’m playing cricket, I’m ready for the season and I’m available.”

Van Zyl has been back hitting the ball since January but wanted a score to have him primed for the Championship.

He reached 92 against Cardiff MCCU in Monday’s sunshine and rain stayed away just long enough the next morning for him to take that into three figures.

The 31-year-old said: “It’s a great feeling because it had been a while. I got a 50 in South Africa as well in the white-ball stuff.”

Van Zyl makes no secret of the fact he is eyeing 1,000 runs.

He said: “Especially in the red-ball stuff, being a batter that is always a main goal. It is still the same for me this season.

“If I get to that mark and other guys around me do so as well, our goal is to get into division one and that is still the focus.

“I would like this season to play as much as I can, especially red-ball cricket. I think I will probably miss out a bit more in the 50-overs competition.

“That is where the workload is more intense in the field and batting as well.

“Championship cricket is four days but it’s low intensity.

“Twenty20 is a way off so by then we will have more idea.

“But, for the club as well, the big focus for me is the four-day stuff.”

Van Zyl missed some good days in four-day and short formats but believes there are more to come.

He said: “I think this year will be great and I said that about last season as well. With the personnel we have, the players we have, a lot of internationals, a lot of guys who are going to play international cricket soon. Last year we were in the final of Twenty20 and just missed promotion to division one.

“If everyone stays fit and plays to their potential, there is no reason why we can’t compete to go into division one and to win silverware.”