Stiaan Van Zylhas time very much on his side at Sussex.

He is less than one season into a three-year contract and says he would be happy to finish his career in this country.

But that doesn’t mean the South African stroke-maker is in any rush to get out of the NatWest T20 Blast as the southern group heads to a last day shoot out.

Sharks need a win over Essex at Hove (7pm) to, barring some freak events in terms of run-rate, book their top-four place.

Van Zyl, who forgot hopes of playing for South Africa for now and signed a Kolpak deal instead, thinks they can do it, just as he is still eyeing promotion in the County Championship.

But the bigger picture is a career decision he believes has proved to be absolutely the right one.

He also retains a hope that he could still add to his 12 Test appearances (average 26.33) as cricket’s political landscape evolves.

The 29-year-old from Cape Town told The Argus: “There’s a lot of stuff going on with South African cricket, as you guys have probably seen this summer.

“I had been in the side and wasn’t going to be picked again soon.

“There were other guys in line and I had always wanted to play county cricket.

“I had a great opportunity to spend three years here.

“I am not getting any younger and it was a great opportunity to come here and take my game to another level, play in different conditions.

“Then, in three years, we will see what’s happening.

“I would be happy to end my career on this side of the world.

“As for South Africa, I’m not sure where our team will be in three years’ time. But I believe I made a good decision to come here.

“I was used to playing fast and bouncy wickets.

“In April and May it was quite rainy here and the wickets were slow.

“You’ve got to play the ball a bit later. The drive is a difficult shot to play, particularly early on.

“Cutting and pulling are better options. In South Africa you get used to going harder at the ball. You can drive it on the up.”

Van Zyl was not in the T20 side at the start of the campaign but has added some left-handed power to the top of the order without throwing the textbook out of the window.

He said: “We went into T20 with another bowler and I was left out but I’ve enjoyed it since coming into the side.

“Batting No.3 has been a bit different. You just try and play properly – but with no fear.

“Especially in the powerplay up front, it comes back to playing normal cricket shots.

“The difference is that in four-day cricket you don’t do that from ball one.

“All batters know their own strong areas. You still need good technique and be able to get the ball in the gaps.”

Sussex threw away a couple of points at Middlesex and should have won the game they tied at home to Kent.

But the group, ravaged by rain early on, is perfectly set up.

Van Zyl said: “I think we have been a bit unlucky. There were games where we had put up good scores or restricted the opposition and then it rained.

“That hurt us and we were unlucky to have to play in the rain at Somerset.

“But the guys are playing good cricket. Even the other day at the Oval, Aaron Finch played great and maybe we let them get 20 runs too many. But we got 180 which was good on quite a difficult surface.”

Tymal Mills (hamstring) misses out for Sussex, who are are tied on 12 points with five other counties. Of those, only Middlesex have a superior net run rate.

Squad: Nash, Wright, Van Zyl, Brown, Evans, Wiese, Salt, Jordan, Archer, Beer, Garton, Briggs, Robinson.