Hunt missed three months of the 2025 season with a shoulder injury, suffered during a County Championship match against Somerset last April in which he had taken nine wickets.

He then had to pull out of Sussex’s final match of the season at Worcestershire and had to have surgery earlier this year after failing to recover in time for the start of the current campaign.

But the left-armer has used Sussex’s last two matches in the T20 Blast – a format he had never previously played in – to help build up his match fitness.

And he has found his form instantly – his figures against Kent were the third most economical four-over spell in Sussex’s 23 years of playing T20 cricket.

“It all feels a bit surreal,” he said. “The new ball was moving early and I think that suits my game, with opening the bowling in red-ball cricket as well.

“I stuck to my skills, stuck to my basics and it paid off nicely.”