Tymal Mills and the long road back to international cricket

NICK FRIEND: For Mills, it has always been about his body. But with a World Cup still to come, he has already bowled more balls in 2021 than in any other calendar year since being forced to focus solely on T20 cricket in 2015

For Tymal Mills, it has always been about the body. The congenital back condition that restricted him to short-form cricket; the hamstring problem that cut short his Indian Premier League adventure; the stress fracture last winter that confined him to a body-armour brace for three months. And the several other setbacks – interconnected or otherwise – in between.

All the while, he retained a belief that he was good enough to return to an international career that, for a man of his skillset and obvious ability, remains woefully incomplete. Maybe this is to give too much credit to the link between commentary and performance, but it has been difficult in the injury-interim to hear the studious insight of Mills’ punditry and not be convinced that the strength of his analysis would equate to the quality of his bowling at the highest level, if only he could keep himself fit.

He has been careful not to overload the airwaves with his voice, conscious of projecting the illusion of an athlete winding down towards retirement and seeking his next move. Mills is far from that though, merely a high-class broadcaster – he was enrolled on a journalism course before breaking through at Essex – well aware of the need to widen the net, given both his injury record and the strange existence of a T20 specialist.

“At times, it has been tough to try to find that balance between still being a player first and foremost but also being a player with a lot of spare time,” he tells The Cricketer.

“I am aware of what doing the media work can mean. It is just about being pragmatic and using that time wisely. It would be silly to turn down work just so people don’t think I’ve retired. I continue to try to do both, but I’m still fully focused on playing with many more years to come.”

And so, there is an immense pride at a recall earned – in the truest sense imaginable – four-and-a-half years after his last involvement with England.

“I always believed I was good enough to get back into the team,” he insists, “so it was more a case of proving it and – more so – staying fit for a period of time to prove what I believed I was good enough to do on the field.”

^{It has been a long time since Eoin Morgan handed Tymal Mills his first England cap}

There is a terrific irony in his absence from the second leg of this season’s IPL: he was wanted by four or five franchises but could not be selected because of a back issue that meant he didn’t enter the original auction. The obstacles have rarely been long in coming. That one has been easier to take, however, and he recounts it with a chuckle.

Nine days after his place in this squad was announced, Mills would be a central figure on T20 Finals Day. His wife couldn’t hide her nerves in the build-up: it would have been typically – and brutally – unfortunate had his body failed him then, on the biggest occasion in the English domestic calendar and, more pertinently, in his last competitive cricket ahead of the World Cup.

He came through unscathed, even if Sussex – a fine T20 side in recent years but without the silverware to show for it – fell at the first hurdle. Overall, he picked up 17 wickets in nine matches – one every 10.5 deliveries.

Interestingly, Mills put himself through a double session in the week leading up to Sussex’s semi-final against eventual winners Kent in the knowledge that winning the Blast would mean two games – and potentially eight overs – in a single afternoon. “I did a big day at training to try to replicate it: I bowled a spell, did some fielding, did some running and then came back to bowl another spell. It was more than what I’d normally do, just to try to tick it off mentally so I knew I had it in the locker.”

The confidence to perform a recce like that is at odds with the more challenging times, when Mills was seen – for wont of a better phrase – as damaged goods: a rapid, canny left-armer with an unreliable body that prevented him from maintaining his best form.

“I think you just need a bit of luck sometimes,” he says. “I’ve never really doubted my ability, cricket-wise. It has just been a case of being able to train consistently, which is probably where I’ve missed out the most.

“I’ve had periods where I’d be playing but I’d be playing at 80 or 85 per cent and I wasn’t training as much because I’d been carrying injuries. Obviously, you’re not getting any better while you’re not training. You’re clinging on a little bit.

“Since my stress fracture last winter, which we gave a long time to get right, we’ve done a bit of remedial work on my run-up and my action. This summer, I’ve got no doubt that I’ve bowled a lot more balls than in the last six months than in any other six-month period.”

^{Mills has used his spare time to become an accomplished, in-demand broadcaster}

Indeed, with a World Cup still to come, Mills has already bowled more balls in 2021 than in any other calendar year since being forced to focus solely on T20 cricket in 2015.

The reason for that shift? “It has just been a case of consistency and confidence in my body, which has allowed me to train more, which has allowed me to get more confidence in my skills. For example, in The Hundred I was bowling a lot more yorkers than I ever had – that is because I’ve been able to practise them more. It just comes down to that really.

“I’ll keep trying to upskill and to get better, but also to be smart: when to take time off, finding gaps to take a week or 10 days off bowling. It’s just being smart and trying to ride the wave for as long as I can.”

At some point following the belated conclusion of this year’s edition, there will an IPL mega-auction coming up, and Mills – a freelancer in his prime – would be lying if he claimed not to be eyeing up a second shot at the biggest franchise opportunity in the game, four years on from the solitary stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore that made him a millionaire. On a more basic level, though, cricket is cricket, and circumstances have conspired to make him miss plenty of it.

“I just want to play as much high-level cricket as I can,” he says. “I’ve worked really hard to get to where I am now, so I’m really looking forward to the World Cup. But also, I’ve become hardened not to look too far ahead – I know you’re only a pulled hamstring or a stress fracture away from not playing cricket for a long time.

“But I’d say that I’ve probably not felt as good as I do now for two or three years: my bodyweight is as low as it’s been for a long time, my skinfolds are at a career-best. I’m in good nick at the moment. Touch wood, I don’t want to get too carried away, but hopefully I can stay on top of it, keep playing cricket and keep enjoying it.

“I’d love to get back to playing in the IPL, especially back in India. I have unfinished business in that regard.”

^{Mills has forced his way back into the international fold}

Before then, his return to international cricket should be a treat. England’s limited-over unit has become the envy of the world game, but it is possible that they have never called up a bowler from the cold with as much prior global experience as Mills at this juncture. He has bowled more T20 deliveries at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium – where England will face West Indies and Australia in the group stage – than at any ground on the planet other than Hove, his county home. Sharjah – where England will take on South Africa and a qualifier – is fourth on that list.

Eoin Morgan rarely shows his hand in public, but he namechecked Mills early in the summer as a possible bolter for this winter, before Jofra Archer’s injury rendered him an absolute no-brainer.

By then, Mills and Morgan had already spoken: the pair were at the Ultimate Kricket Challenge – an indoor, one-on-one exhibition competition – when they had a now-well-publicised conversation about his chances of a recall. They talked over dinner – “it wasn’t a deep chat – I just asked the question we then carried on with the rest of our night,” he adds.

“It was just nice to know – I’ve always had aspirations to get back into the side, so you just want to know for yourself and your own personal goals and belief whether it is attainable.”

There is no absolute guarantee that Mills will slip straight into an England team so much more developed as a white-ball force than when he was last involved, but you sense he is Morgan’s kind of cricketer: not many on the circuit think so vividly about the game nor possess such a sense of clarity around their own skillset.

“I’m going to have to reintegrate myself into the team,” he knows. “I’m sure things have changed in terms of how the squad runs and how the team runs since the last time I played for England. I will try my best to fit in as well as I can. I’ll have some good chats with Morgs: if it looks like I’m going to play, then make sure we have a really good understanding of each other. I’d like to think he’s pretty good at trusting the bowlers and letting them crack on, which is something that I prefer. We have enough time to have those chats and to feel like part of the group again.”

^{Hundred champions Southern Brave were indebted to Mills' death-bowling skills}

He was an early, consistent champion of The Hundred’s merits: “I said pre-tournament that I was a big believer that you’d have three different kinds of player: the cream who would rise to the top; a few players who would surprise you – maybe players who hadn’t been given that opportunity before would rise to it; and then some players who would fall away a little bit.

“Those are the situations I always want to put myself in. For right or for wrong, I always back myself to do well. I went into that environment with a real excitement; I was just looking forward to doing it on the big stage – I like the big occasions and the big grounds at full houses against big names in the important overs. I’m really pleased with how I bowled. If I’m being greedy, I’d maybe have liked a few more wickets. There were a lot of balls that landed either side of fielders, but I was really pleased with the tournament in all aspects.”

Against conventional wisdom, he has become one of the world’s leading death-bowlers by backing a combination of pace, slower-balls and back-of-a-length rather than a diet of yorkers.

Of the players to bowl more than 50 deliveries in The Hundred, only Adam Milne had a better economy rate despite doing much of his best work at the end of the innings. For that reason, he was only asked once by James Vince, his captain, to bowl a 10-ball set – and, in any case, the pair eventually decided against it. “I think you should only really do it if you’re taking wickets,” he suggests.

“I think the five-ball overs did favour the bowlers a little bit. In terms of momentum, if you were bowling a good set after three balls, you had a better chance of getting out of it and bowling a really good set of five. Likewise, if you were bowling a bad set, you had one less ball that could be hit for a boundary, which is always a nice situation to be in.”

There is a more phlegmatic, even cynical manner to the way in which Mills speaks about bowling than when he last represented his country. His external perception has certainly changed as well: once upon a time, all the talk was simply of a “left-arm quick with a good back-of-the-hand slower-ball”.

It probably underplayed his ability back then, but it would certainly do his 2021 version a disservice. But in the intervening period, people have come to better understand and further appreciate the format and its nuances. Even the name-change from World T20 to T20 World Cup feels like a significant shift in respect levels.

^{The long road back is almost over...}

“Now I’m a pretty good all-round bowler,” says Mills. “I know my game well, I’m still adapting, still training hard to work on new skills. I’m 29 now rather than 24, when I first played. Back then, all I wanted was to bowl quick. If I wasn’t bowling over 90mph, I’d be disappointed. Now, I’m not as bothered by that – I just want to bowl well. Obviously, I still want to bowl quick, but if I’m bowling in the high eighties and I’ve got good control over it, then I’m happy.

“Do I believe I’m a better cricketer than I was then? One hundred per cent. Definitely. Without a doubt. I feel like I’ve got a lot more control. I’ve played a lot more games, I’ve got that experience under my belt. This is going to be another step-up: playing in a World Cup is as high a level of competition as you’re going to get. It’s still about staying level through the good games and the bad.”

Toughened by prior misfortune, Tymal Mills is better versed at that than most. You’d need a cold heart not to wish him – and his body – well.