ANDY MURRAY’S former coach, Mark Petchey, insists the British number one should stand down from Davis Cup duties with immediate effect and hand Basingstoke’s Josh Goodall a permanent role.

The 24-year-old was given his Davis Cup debut against Ukraine back in March but, despite his efforts, lost both his games to Illya Marchenko and Ivan Sergeyev, writes Nick Clowes.

Goodall was not in the squad for September’s clash against Poland in Liverpool and, despite Murray playing, Britain were relegated to group two of the Euro-Africa Zone after losing 3-2.

Petchey believes that should mark the end of Murray’s chapter and the beginning of Goodall’s.

“I don’t think Andy should play Davis Cup next year,” said Petchey, who was in London last week to promote Barclays Ball Kids – a nationwide search, now recruiting, to find ball boys and girls for the next year's World Final in London.

“He’s going to get nothing out of it and he shouldn’t have to change his schedule to travel all over the place.

“And if that happens there is a fantastic chance for Josh to step up now and get that international experience.

“Dan Evans was given his chance in the last round and there are guys like Dan Cox and Jamie Baker as well as Josh who are coming into contention.

“We have a lot of good players around the 150 to 250 mark, probably more than any other country, but one good experience can go a long way.”

Goodall has endured a tough year, failing to make it past the qualifying stages of the Australian, French and US Opens and losing in five sets in the first round of Wimbledon.

But former Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic has echoed Petchey’s comments and urged the LTA to look beyond Murray and give Goodall his chance.

“If Murray doesn’t play, then it is a chance of some of the other players to have international experience and that is what guys like Josh need,” said Ivanisevic.

“There needs to be more players out there who can move up because the LTA makes a lot of money and they need to start making new players.

“They cannot rely on Andy Murray for the next 10 years because that’s no good. It’s a big opportunity for the younger guys and they’ve got to take it.”

Sky Sports pundit Petchey is supporting the Barclays Ball Kids initiative, a scheme designed to find the Ballkids for next year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tournament.