A shot that demanded its own interview: Can Rawlins replicate his bulldozing drive on Finals Day?

SAM MORSHEAD: This was an Exocet late for its date with oblivion, a darting bullet straight from the sniper’s barrel, a raging runaway train running off the fumes of a night out with Gazza, Andy Warhol and Hunter S Thompson

^{Sussex Shark Delray Rawlins}

It was the shot that could sink a thousand ships.

Delray Rawlins is far from a household name in English cricket - in fact, outside of Hove members and those keeping a keen eye on pre-season ECB events in the Caribbean, it would have been easy to miss what has become something of a breakthrough season for the 21-year-old Bermudan.

Yet, if you were among the crowd on a chilly T20 Blast quarter-final night at the Riverside in August, or in front of a TV in the more comfortable confines of your living room, he was impossible to avoid.

Rawlins, who on Saturday will be hoping to play a major role in a Sussex Sharks triumph at Edgbaston, went into the game against Durham Jets in a minor rut - three consecutive ducks including two in the Blast - yet his team was flying.

A long trip to the north east, turned into a mini-break by head coach Jason Gillespie, with a four-day road trip incorporating a post-match night out in Newcastle and pub lunch on the way home, might have seemed daunting but the atmosphere in the Sharks’ dressing room suggested otherwise.

“We’d already played three knockout games to get there - we’d had to win our three games before that one to qualify - so everyone was in a good headspace,” Rawlins tells The Cricketer.

^{Rawlins at the crease during the quarter-final against Durham Jets}

“We told ourselves to go out there, enjoy, have fun and take on the game like we usually do.

“The bowlers set it up for us and once we had a sniff with the bat, myself and Laurie (Evans) decided to go about it as positively as we could.”

Sussex had kept Durham to 140 for seven from their 20 overs - modest but not undefendable, particularly as temperatures flirted with single figures and the hardy souls in the stands huddled together, laden in coats and hats, in search of warmth.

The task was made trickier when Phil Salt and Luke Wright both lost their wickets cheaply in the reply.

But that only set the stage for Rawlins - a combative, confident allrounder barely recognisable from the diminutive, scraggly left-arm spinner who first appeared in Caribbean age-group cricket five years ago.

Borrowing vans, shooting 71 and downing the Jets: Evans reveals his unusual quarter-final preparations

“I’ve been hitting it really well,” he said, suggesting that a series of failures with the bat was never likely to faze him.

“I’ve just been looking to play the shots I need to take the pressure off the other end and keep doing the things I’ve been doing.”

And so it proved.

After nurdling a single to get off the mark, Rawlins unleashed perhaps the most exhilarating straight drive since Wally Parks popularised the drag race.

Chris Rushworth was the unfortunate bowler - and thank heavens for his shins Rawlins chose onside instead of off.

This was an Exocet late for its date with oblivion, a darting bullet straight from the sniper’s barrel, a raging runaway train running off the fumes of a night out with Gazza, Andy Warhol and Hunter S Thompson.

Delray Rawlins made quite the impression during the quarter-finals

How will he get on for @SussexCCC at Finals Day? pic.twitter.com/kFx9qnEZBc

— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) September 2, 2018

The sound of bat on ball - an almighty thunderclap like the crack of Ogmios’s Whip - reverberated around the Riverside. No sooner had those present been privy to the moment of brutal brilliance was it over, the poor 5½-ounce leather sphere nursing a severe concussion by the boundary boards.

“It’s instinct just to go for it, and I smoked it down the ground,” says Rawlins, nonchalantly.

“It was a nice feeling. I’ve been hitting the ball well and I back myself and my ability.

“Luckily came off… and it looked alright.”

Alright. Alright?! It was the checked-drive kingpin, the Don of all shots, every other stroke in the manual fit only to kiss its hand.

So where did he learn such majesty?

“As a kid growing up I watched Brian Lara quite a lot but I wouldn’t say there’s anyone I’ve moulded my game on,” he says.

“I’ve just been finding some crazy way to hit the ball and it’s come off quite nicely.”

Rawlins made 42 in all that night, and with Laurie Evans saw Sussex most of the way to victory.

Now he’s preparing for Edgbaston and a chance of silverware.

“I’m expecting it to be chaos,” he says. “A full house, three games in a day… a lot of people around me have been talking it up and I don’t think it will disappoint.

“We know as a squad and as a unit that if we play the cricket we can play, there are not many teams in the country who can come close to us.”

With that shot in their middle order man’s locker, that can’t be far wrong.