Josh Poysden admits he is still pinching himself after a whirlwind few weeks.

The leg-spinner from Ditchling has burst from virtual obscurity to become a regular member of the limited overs side at Warwickshire.

Poysden made his debut in the Bears’ make-or-break NatWest T20 Blast clash in front of a big crowd at Edgbaston last month and impressed so much he has featured in their opening four matches in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

It is quite a turnaround for the former Cardinal Newman pupil who was unable to make the breakthrough at Sussex due to the presence of Will Beer and spent the early part of the summer largely playing for Barnt Green in the Birmingham League.

The 22-year-old is now aiming to add another chapter to the fairytale by being included in the Warwickshire squad for Twenty20 finals day and proving he deserves a contract at Edgbaston.

Poysden said: “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks really but they have been really enjoyable. I was thrown right in at the deep end on my debut as we had to win to reach the quarter-finals but I loved it.

“I’ll never forget the atmosphere at Edgbaston and it made all the hard work over the last four years worthwhile. It’s been great to be involved in the 50-over competition, too, and hopefully I can play a bit more in the last four games.

“I don’t want to get carried away though. It is my childhood dream to be a professional cricketer but I know there is still a lot of hard work ahead of me if I am going to make that a reality.

“At the moment I am just taking things as they come but if I keep developing and improving then I would like to think I can earn a contract at Warwickshire.”

Poysden grew up in Hove until the age of 16 and started out playing for Brighton and Hove in the Sussex League alongside his dad Ian who is a passionate supporter of Sussex County Cricket Club.

He featured for both the Sussex 2nd XI and the county’s development side between 2010 and 2013 and was also a regular for Hastings Priory in the Sussex League up until the end of last year.

Some impressive performances in the YB40 for Unicorns last year brought Poysden to the attention of Warwickshire and he was invited to Edgbaston for a trial at the start of the summer having spent the winter playing grade cricket in Australia.

Although there was no opportunity to play for his home county he is still grateful for the part Sussex legend Mushtaq Ahmed has played in his development.

Poysden added: “When I started at Brighton and Hove I was a wicketkeeper but the coach Dick Roberts encouraged me to give leg-spin a try.

“I used to watch Mushy a lot when I was younger and I was fortunate enough to do quite a bit of work with him too. He is such a nice bloke and spoke to me a lot about the mental side of leg-spin.

“It was great having someone like him around when I was growing up and I’ve been able to work with him since when I’ve been a net bowler three or four times with England.”

Poysden still has a strong affinity for Sussex and admits it was a little bit difficult when he came up against the Sharks in his third game for Warwickshire.

“That was a bit surreal as I was bowling against Luke Wells and Matt Machan who I used to play age group cricket with at Brighton and Hove,” he added. “Harry Finch is one of my best mates too and he was 12th man so it was a weird experience.”