England’s coach Trevor Bayliss has made no secret of how he felt about the team’s bowling in the three One-day Internationals against India. Following a firmly understated “a little disappointed” with the bowlers for conceding 1053 runs three outings, Bayliss is set to test the Indian batsmen with a new pace weapon in the T20 series beginning here on Republic Day.
Tymal Mills, the 24-year-old left-arm speedster capable of sending down deliveries at 94 miles per hour (151 kpm), is ready to impress not just the desperate English supporters but also the franchisees of the Indian Premier League (IPL) getting ready for the players’ auction.
“I’ve got a point of difference in being left-armed and able to bowl fast. I’ll always try to bowl quick,” said Mills and quickly added, “But I’ve got to be smart because sometimes against high quality batsmen the faster you bowl, the faster it comes off the bat. This will be a great chance to see where I’m at.”
With Chris Woakes back home after the ODIs and David Willey not sure of recovering in time from a shoulder injury, Mills could become a serious component in England’s pace battery in the three-match series.
“I am keen to do well here. I am also looking forward to being picked up at the IPL auction since I will be available for the whole duration of the event,” declared Mills.
In 2015, Mills was considered England’s fresh pace hope until he was diagnosed with a congenital back condition that not only threatened to rule of out of the game but also raised doubts over the young man leading a normal life.
The problem that Mills faces is his spinal chord and vertebrae are too close for comfort. With his back getting extended on a regular hyper-basis, it results in the malfunctioning of the spinal cord. After a long, anxious period, Mills found the treatment working and slowly the natural athlete in him took over.
From the time when four-day cricket was ruled out for him, Mills focussed entirely on returning to the shortest format of the game.
Last year, in Southampton, Mills played his only T20 match for England till date and gave away just 22 runs in four overs against Sri Lanka. Since then, he played T20 leagues in Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, and did well enough to catch the eye of the England selectors.
“I'm only 24 and I’ve spent a lot of the time injured. It’s not much fun so I don’t want to put myself at risk as such. I’ve played 16 or 17 games pretty consecutively this winter and I’ve been injury-free so I want to stay healthy and keep enjoying my cricket. Down the line, I don’t know what might happen. But in the immediate future I’m only looking to play T20s, if I’m honest,” said Mills.
Indeed, Mills is wiser and knows the extent to which he can stretch. “With the symptoms and type of injury I get, it can happen out of nowhere. That is a result of over-bowling. So I’ve found a nice routine of what I can and can’t do. It’s worked for me so far this winter because I’ve been smart in how I’ve trained and played. I’ll look to continue that in future.”
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