Laurie Evans is targeting a Championship breakthrough – after sampling cricket’s shortest format yet.

The hard-hitting batsman is preparing for his wedding and then a New Year of Twenty20 action which could include the Indian Premier League.

But he admits he would also relish the chance to be at Hove in April pushing for a place in Jason Gillespie’s Championship team.

Evans was the county’s white-ball player of the year for 2018 and is enjoying a winter of short-format action overseas.

He is due in Bangladesh next month and Pakistan in February and is one of five Sussex players in the IPL draft.

However he has told The Argus he is open-minded about whether he can break into the Indian competition, which cuts across the early weeks of our domestic season.

Evans, who signed a new Sussex deal taking him beyond 2019 this week, said: “Initially I decided not to go into the draft.

“I didn’t think there would be any chance of me being picked up.

“It is quite a small auction this year.

“It was a tough decision in terms of if I got in, the cricket I would miss for the Sussex.

“I’ve always said how important four-day cricket is to me.

“Either way, if I get picked up or I’m with Sussex from the start of the season, I’ll be happy.

“I’ve never played international cricket so the opportunity to potentially play in the best competition in the world is something I can’t pass up.

“That would be amazing – something to look back on when I finish playing.

“But, to be honest, I’m not expecting to be picked up in the draft.”

Evans enjoyed being part of the recent T10 League but is not sure the format will catch on.

He said: “The competition was a lot of fun to play in.

“It was great to rub shoulders with some of the best players in the world.

“It’s a great spectacle and the crowds enjoyed it but I don’t know if it will catch on or not.

“As players, you don’t really know what’s a good score.

“I was ill so I only played a couple of games and went in at four.

“You fit into different roles.

“It’s how you adapt to what is happening in front of you.

“You look down the list and you feel lucky to be in it.

“I put in a couple of good performances and I was really happy.

“Playing in these events is great for learning.

“The ball spins a lot and you use different skills.

“What you take away with the ten-overs format is the value of a wicket.

“If you lose a couple of wickets in T20, it can really hurt you.

“In T10, you can lose a couple of wickets in the first over and still get 120.

“You lose the big moments, which is a wicket or a six.

“They just blend into everything else. From that point of view, I don’t know how good it is as a spectacle.”

Evans has been a major force in white-ball formats for Sussex and would love them to build on last year’s runners-up spot in the Vitality Blast.

The first part of that will be securing what in recent years has been elusive qualification to the later stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

He said: “I’ve loved my two years here so far.

“I wouldn’t really want to go anywhere else.

“In the 50-overs competition I feel we were still really finding our way with a new team last season.

“The success we have had in Twenty20 with some younger players coming through will stand us in really good stead or the 50-overs competition next season.

“Players we have given a platform to have shown what they can do.

“There will be real competition for places in the 50-overs team.

“We might miss people to the IPL but we’ve got exciting youngsters.

“The club is in a really strong position.

“I think in T20, we found a method and a structure.

“Players found their role, including me going in at three.”

That, though, is all for the future.

Before that, a week on Saturday, Evans marries partner Verity in Suffolk before heading to Ireland on honeymoon. It is a busy winter - which could yet end in India.