Tymal Mills signs Suffolk deal to play Minor Counties cricket in bid to return to England T20 side

After failing to earn a contract for this year’s IPL, Mills has returned to his boyhood club in an attempt to build up match fitness ahead of England’s international summer

Tymal Mills bowling for Sussex Sharks last summer (Getty Images)

Tymal Mills has signed a short-term deal to play Minor Counties cricket with Suffolk as he attempts to force his way back into England’s Twenty20 squad. The left-arm fast bowler, who sold for a record £1.4m in last year’s Indian Premier League auction, only plays the shortest format of the game as a result of a congenital back condition. And after failing to earn a contract for this year’s IPL, he has returned to his boyhood club in an attempt to build up match fitness ahead of England’s international summer and a new T20 Blast campaign with Sussex.

By all accounts, taking the field at Peterborough and Bury St Edmunds will be a radical change of scenery from 12 months ago, when he was a marquee signing at Royal Challengers Bangalore, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. But after an injury-ruined second half of 2017 and a poor Big Bash during which he was dropped by both the Hobart Hurricanes and the national team, Mills’s stock has fallen somewhat of late. Yet following a partial return to form for Karachi Kings in the recent Pakistan Super League, the hope is that a return to familiar climes will be the catalyst for a more successful 2018.

“It’ll be nice to play for Suffolk again,” said Mills, who grew up in the small town of Brandon and played for the Tuddenham St Mary and Mildenhall clubs before earning his first professional deal with Essex. “If you’re just bowling in the nets for three months, it’s a long time. You need some games, you need some consequences, and some intensity. It’s not ideal. I didn’t get an IPL contract, which is fine – I didn’t deserve one, to be honest. But injuries and international call-ups happen, so if a gig becomes available in the IPL, I’ll be ready to go.”

Suffolk, for their part, are delighted to be able to call upon the services of a full international, with head coach Andy Northcote describing Mills as a “world-class” fast bowler. His form may have fluctuated over recent months, but one suspects the batsmen of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire will be none too pleased about the prospect of facing Mills’s repertoire of searing 93mph yorkers and disguised slower balls. Mills is scheduled to play up to six games in total, starting with the crunch double-header against local rivals Norfolk at Woolpit on 6 May.

Sometime around the beginning of June, England will name their squad for the T20 internationals against Australia and India. And though Mills lost his place for the tri-series against Australia and New Zealand over the winter, England’s poor performance in that tournament highlighted their lack of genuine game-changing bowling options in the shortest format. During the recent PSL, Mills shared a Karachi dressing room with England captain Eoin Morgan, and was assured that the door remains open to add to his four England caps.

Mills remains in philosophical mood about his recent tribulations. It is, after all, just a few short years since his mystery back condition was threatening to put him out of cricket for good. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs,” he admitted. “The IPL contract set me up for life, really. I’ve not been silly with it, got myself a nice place, so it just makes everything else a lot easier. Then last year I had a lot of injuries, and then a poor Big Bash, didn’t get picked for England, didn’t get an IPL contract.

“But I’m lucky to still be playing. You go through your ups and downs, and hopefully I’ll have a nice long career.”