Phil Salt has his eyes on Twenty20 cricket, helped by valuable time with his club.

The hard-hitting Welsh opener cracked 62 for Sussex Sharks against Australia to thrill a crowd of 6,000 at Hove on Thursday.

It was a decent showcase for Salt, who played just once in the Royal London Cup but took out his frustration with a destructive 172 for his Sussex League side Brighton and Hove last Saturday.

Now Salt, who was helped by the Aussies when D’Arcy Short twice dropped him on nought, hopes to take that form and that fortune into the shortest format.

Salt told The Argus: “It’s nice to get a couple of chances early on.

“When I was dropped by D’Arcy Short I had to pinch myself really because he is such a good fielder.

“You don’t expect that to happen once, let alone twice.

“I just couldn’t believe it. You’ve seen him in T20 competitions all over the world.

“He is the best of the best so to get dropped by him is really lucky.”

Salt did not get off the mark until his tenth ball but reached 50 off 33.

He faced 49 balls for his 62, which came off just 16 scoring shots.

Salt said: “When you get going and the balls land in the right areas and you just react to them, keeping it nice and simple, that’s what happens.

“Sometimes you can over-think it but Thursday was one of those nights when you just see it and hit it.”

Salt has yet to find consistency this season.

He has had his ups and downs after being trusted to open the innings in the Championship and he was out for no score against the Aboriginals XI on Friday.

But he is a bundle of energy in the field and a matchwinner when on song.

He was back in the Sussex League yesterday, scoring 94 away to Horsham. So can club cricket really have any relevance to first team cricket with the county?

He replied: “I’m not sure to be honest. I think it’s valuable for me because it is time in the middle. I know it’s only league standard but it is really valuable.

“It’s just better than having a 20-minute, 40-minute net, however long you want to be in there. Time in the middle is what counts.

“The standard in the Sussex League is massively on the up from when I joined Sussex a couple of years ago.

“Brighton and Hove are doing really well at the minute.

“We have got Matt Machan, who played down here and was a Scotland international.

“He’s the coach now so it adds a bit more of a professional feel to the set-up.

“I’m really excited about T20. It’s definitely my favourite form of the game and I can’t wait for it.”

Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie enjoyed Salt’s innings while it lasted but he would have loved to have seen him fully capitalise on those two let-offs.

Gillespie said: “He played well, he struck the ball cleanly and he showed what we know he is capable of.

“But the challenge for Phil is to make the most of those opportunities.

“We have spoken to our batting group about that.”

That will be a target when the Vitality Blast gets under way early next month.

Salt believes there are also lessons for the bowlers to learn from what he saw first-hand in the middle.

He said: “I thought (Michael) Nesser bowled really well up top for Australia. Actually, the whole team did. You can’t fault the way they bowled.

“I think our team can take a bit of a lesson from them and the way they bowled with the new ball.

“I thought they were really impressive and showed what a clinical outfit they are.

“They hit the pitch hard, came in and bowled nice and straight.

“They set straight fields and they were boring, they just slammed into that area, one up, one down - fantastic.”