LAURIE EVANS knows what it takes to be successful in T20 cricket.

Now the former champion with Birmingham hopes to see an equally successful blueprint in operation at Hove as Sussex Sharks look to cause a surprise.

The close-season signing from the Bears accepts not too much will be expected of his new county, certainly outside Hove.

But he knows how Warwickshire, and Birmingham as they became known, struck gold and he hopes and believes Sharks can show the same talent and attitude over the coming weeks.

Evans was man-of-the match with a rapid 53 not out when his former club won the final three years ago.

But success did not come overnight.

He told The Argus: “There is a combination of things you need. Obviously you have got to have the skill level and, on paper, we have got some fine cricketers.

“You have got to have a team who understand how the game is won.

“Then you have got to perform well on a consistent basis.

“It helps if you have a number of guys in good form who will be your majority performers and everyone else chips in.

“If those players can win you three games each and you dovetail around each other, then hopefully that is what will get you through to the knockout stages.

“Then it’s all about momentum and who enjoys the big occasion more.

“Sussex haven’t been there for a while so there is probably no expectation.

“While we have got a good team, and the players are doing all they can to get through, I hope we go out and enjoy our cricket.

“I hope we go about it in the right way.

“The only thing I will be disappointed about is if we don’t get it right with our attitude.”

Evans accepts T20 was once a derided format but that strategy has improved over the years.

Those who excel in the game spend close-seasons working on specific short-format skills.

He said: “At Warwickshire we weren’t very good at T20. We were lacking boundary hitters.

“I would go in at five or six and I had the ability to hit boundaries.

“That helped give us the impetus towards the back end of the innings.

“It either gave us momentum at the end of the first innings or meant we could get one big over chasing a score and then you are nearly there.

“We tried not to go too hard up top so we would have wickets in hand.

“But that meant if we didn’t lose wickets, the middle order didn’t get in.

“We had to be attacking enough without losing so many wickets.

“But the main reason we won games was our bowling attack was high class.

“We had guys who knew what they were doing and worked seriously hard.

“They made it their job to bowl the death overs or to bowl at the top and take wickets.

“Spinners took it on themselves to squeeze in the middle and take wickets.

“Someone like Oliver Hannon-Dalby at the end, made it his job to be the death bowler.

“He would work during the winter and he was desperate to be that guy. He loved it.

“He was an emotional guy and he used to hate being smashed out of the park, which happens in most games to anyone.

“Looking at Sussex now, we have hopefully got all bases covered.

“We have got guys who can hopefully strike at the top, guys who can take wickets in the middle and we have guys with good skills at the end who force people to whack it up in the air so we can take catches.”

Evans has been battling against a hamstring injury to be fit for the NatWest T20 Blast.

He gave a hint of what he can do in the 50-overs format but knows what we are about to witness is largely what Sussex signed him for.

He said: “I think people know me for white-ball cricket “I have had a lot of success in white-ball cricket but I have probably had as many good days in red-ball cricket.

“But I think white-ball gets noticed.

“Sussex have probably signed me on the back of my one-day performances.

“It’s all about game management, reading the game.

“From a batting point of view, especially in the middle order, you have got to know how to bat in different ways.

“You have got to know what is required of you in the middle.

“You bat according to game situations. You have to enjoy the pressure, enjoy the big occasion.

“That’s what we have to do.”

  • Boundless is the new shirt sponsors for Sussex Cricket’s NatWest T20 Blast competition. Boundless, a membership organisation which helps Civil Servants and Public Sector workers get the most out of their free time, will have its logo proudly displayed on Sussex Sharks’ new NatWest T20 Blast shirt. For more information please visit www.boundless.co.uk.