Gary Ballance column: It is a great feeling to be considered for any England squad following my call-up to the provisional list for this summer’s Champions Trophy.

I got a call the day before it was announced from national selector Geoff Miller last week, and I am very privileged. It is great to know that they are thinking about you, and that you do have a chance of playing for England.

The squad has to be cut down from 30 to 15 next month, so I don’t want to get my hopes up too much because there are some very good players who have played a lot of international cricket who have been named.

But hopefully I can get a good start to the season. You never know what can happen. It is all about stacking up the runs in the Championship.

This is probably the most excited I have been ahead of a new season, especially with a good winter behind me and with it being the 150th year for the club. There are a lot of high expectations around the place.

It is great to be back in Division One of the Championship - like everyone says, where we belong. We have a few additions to the squad, and we are all feeling confident.

Obviously Mags has gone now, although we have three experienced players who have come in in Brooks, Plunkett and Hodd. There may be a bit of a different feel to the squad, but we have kept that very positive vibe we had towards the end of last season.

We have a very strong squad with lots of options. The bowling is extremely strong, while there are some very good young batters coming through. If we can play to our potential, we have got a great chance of success.

Every batter wants to score 1,000 runs in a season, and I am no different. That is some kind of benchmark. But I have always said that winning games for Yorkshire is a better feeling.

If I can score some hundreds that contribute to winning games, that would be success for me.

With there being a lot of Championship games in April and May nowadays, it is important to get off to a good start to be able to build that momentum.

Sussex are a good side who have done well during the last couple of years, and they will pose us a threat. They have brought in a few new signings of their own, people like Rory Hamilton-Brown. But I believe we are ready to go.