I’ll be straight up and say that my situation at Sussex has not changed. I’m in communication with the club on a regular basis and through my agent. This length of stay back home could not be anticipated and I have to accept that the longer I’m here on island, the more talk will intensify as county cup and Cup Match approach. So I may as well let the cat out of the bag!

I’ve accepted an invitation from St George’s to train for Cup Match. It’s one of those things where we’ll have to see when we get there, but it is now more likely than ever that I will play in the Annual Classic if selected. I’ve played only once back in 2014 before moving to England and it is something that I would be excited about, and hopefully try to contribute to getting a positive result for my team.

Same thing in the Eastern Counties where Bailey’s Bay are the holders and are absolutely flying after clinching the Premier Division 50 overs title on the weekend. It’s been a lot of fun playing with the guys. The boys are actually putting in a lot of work. They always say you got to put in the work to get results. And since I’ve been back, you can see why we’ve been winning games — and winning games convincingly. It’s consistency. Consistently good numbers at training, and the level and intensity of training is high, with people challenging each other. It’s a credit to all of them at the club. The work that they put into all preseason and from the start of the season. It is definitely the team that deserved the title.

It was really pleasing to see how Irving Romaine turned the game against Cleveland, with four big wickets after getting the late call because of suspensions and injury. He’s obviously a very experienced cricketer as a Bermuda World Cup captain who played for many years locally and internationally. As director of cricket, he is always at training, but I wouldn’t say he has been training for that particular moment. I guess you can say when you have it, you never really forget it.

With the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Regional Qualifier on the horizon in September, the conditions at North Field will come more sharply into focus. The groundstaff at the National Sports Centre have been putting in a lot of work, but the weather recently hasn’t been the best, with the rain being so on and off and the forecast being very unpredictable, which makes it tough to produce really good surfaces. The surfaces in the nets have been pretty good. The Bermuda team have trained well there in the past couple of weeks. It’s just about trying to get the middle consistent, really — that’s going to be the tough part. Once we can find that consistency and the consistency in the prep, I think that's when you'll see better results in the wicket.

It has been difficult to see Sussex struggle in the Vitality Blast. I’ve looked at or watched every game and it’s been a tough campaign. There are a lot of new faces in the T20 arena, so it is a different game. It’s still professional cricket against some of the same guys, but it is a different game in that the intensity goes up a notch. Even if it’s not a successful year for the boys this year — and it will be difficult to overcome losing six of the first eight — the experience can only be good and hopefully bring something more positive next year.

Red-ball cricket has returned for a spell and I’m looking forward to a very exciting Ashes series. Australia showed how strong they are by beating India handsomely in the World Test Championship final at Kia Oval last week. This series beginning on Friday launches the new 2023-25 cycle, and what better way to do it than with the Aussies led by Pat Cummins and Steve Smith taking on Ben Stokes and an England team inspired by coach Brendon McCullum’s “Bazball” mentality.

• Delray Rawlins was talking to Dexter Smith