Mills given World Cup hope by England
Cricketers can come from nowhere to be overnight millionaires after striking oil in the Indian Premier League, such as the Afghan legspinner Rashid Khan, who has now been signed to play T20 for Sussex.
Yet there are young cricketers going in the opposite direction,
such as Tymal Mills, who was playing T20 internationals last year, bowling faster for England than any left-armer has ever done, and winning a contract worth £1.4million from Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL auction – not far behind Ben Stokes.
Now England are going into their opening T20 tri-series match against Australia here without Mills even being in their squad, and without their captain Eoin Morgan having had any contact with Mills even though he has been playing for the Hobart Hurricanes. Until Mills was dropped, that is, which takes some doing for an overseas player, because each Big Bash League franchise has only two.
From being fast and expensive, Mills has fast become an expensive luxury. The Hurricanes dropped him for their BBL semi-final and final after Mills, in the qualifying rounds, had bowled his 40 overs at the eye-watering cost of 389 runs: he conceded 9.7 runs per over, with an average of 48.6 runs per wicket.
Left-arm pace bowlers were all the fashion when T20 internationals began, as they took the ball away from right-handers swiping to leg; but if they do not evolve their game, they are liable to be overtaken by wrist-spinners, such as England’s Adil Rashid, or Rashid Khan.
“He’s gone through a tough couple of months, which everybody can go through,” Morgan said on the eve of England’s T20 tri-series against Australia and New Zealand. “But certainly we see him as a guy who can gain a huge amount of experience playing in tournaments around the world. Due to his fitness background, we probably wouldn’t consider him until a World Cup year, rather than pulling him out of a Big Bash just for a tri-series.”
England have two other left-arm pacers in David Willey and Sam Curran, who can both swing the new ball more than Mills.
This is England’s first T20 tri-series and Morgan has endorsed it. “I’m a massive fan of tri-series,” he said. “They bring that tournamentbased competitive nature out in every team. You have the carrot of a final at the end. I’m all for them. If we could play more, we could but I don’t think it’s viable with travel schedules around the world.”
In the old days, when England played Australia, most players were unfamiliar with their opponents. Nine of this England squad have played in the Big Bash, and Morgan says he has faced all of Australia’s bowlers except the new fast phenomenon Billy Stanlake.
“Over the last five or six years, the chemistry of international cricket has changed naturally and the dynamic has changed. Guys are rubbing shoulders two or three times a year by playing in the same teams. Last year, when Ben Stokes was being captained by Steve Smith at the IPL – that really epitomises it.
“Two guys who normally go hammer and tongs at it came out of the tournament learning a lot from each other.”
After playing Australia in Hobart today (8.40am start UK time), England face them again in Melbourne on Saturday, followed by their two games in New Zealand next week culminating, perhaps, in a final in Auckland.