[2] Sewell was born at Christchurch in 1977 and educated at Waitaki Boys' High School in Oamaru.
[3] A left-arm fast-medium bowler, he played age-group cricket for Otago before making his senior representative debut for the provincial side in February 1996.
Later in the year he toured Australia and England with the New Zealand national under-19 cricket team, playing six under-19 Test matches and three under-19 One Day Internationals.
He took a total of 10 five-wicket hauls,[4] with his best bowling figures of eight wickets for the cost of 31 runs coming for Otago against Central Districts in 1996–97.
He played for North Otago in the Hawke Cup between 2001–02 and 2014–15, taking six wickets in the side's win in the 2010–11 Challenge Match against Manawatu.