Former University of East London student and Sussex seamer Tymal Mills has been added to England’s squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia after Surrey’s Reece Topley was ruled out of the tournament with an ankle injury.
The Sussex seamer has been drafted into the squad after travelling with the team as a reserve player and with his left arm bowling actions mirroring that of Topley’s it made him the obvious choice to replace the injury-stricken Surrey bowler.
Mills recently underwent an operation for a toe injury and has been out of the game since the beginning of August. However, his previous international experience has allowed the selectors to overlook his lack of game time. He was a key member of the England team that reached the semi-final stage of the T20 World Cup in 2021, ending the tournament with seven wickets at an average of 15.42 and an economy rate of 8.00.
England play their first fixture of the tournament against Afghanistan on Saturday 22nd October.
Player Bio
Tymal Mills is a left arm fast bowler who currently pays for Sussex CCC and England.
Mills made his first-class debut for Essex against a touring Sri-Lankan team at Chelmsford in 2011. His performances at Essex eventually led to a call up for the England Lions squad at the end of that year. Mills continued to perform well with the Lions and his county until 2014 when he joined Sussex.
Mills experienced his first struggles with injury in 2015 when he was diagnosed with a congenital back condition. The back condition caused him to reduce the amount of four-day cricket he exposed himself to and as a result he became more of a one-day specialist bowler.
Mills has represented several teams in domestic competitions overseas including Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistani Super League and the Royal Challenegers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
The Sussex bowler made his T20 International debut on 5th July 2016, ending the match with figures of 0-22 as England won by eight wickets. Mills continued to represent his country in the T20 format, with his performances eventually leading to his inclusion in the England squad for the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup. He played four games in the tournament but was not included in the team for their semi-final defeat at the hands of eventual runners-up, New Zealand.
Edited by M Gowie
