Tymal Mills

A country that produces left-arm seamers in abundance, Tymal Mills is the go-to pacer for any team. Already demonstrating that he could propel the ball with his left arm at 90mph or more, he created a buzz among the County teams at a very young age.

A product of the U-19 England squad, he made his first-class debut in a tour match against the visiting Sri Lankans in June 2011. In the winter, Mills was fast-tracked into the England Performance Programme and underwent training at the ECB National Cricket Academy in Loughborough. Despite not setting the County Championship for fire, his bustling pace earned him a spot in the England Lions Squad.

After the demolition by Mitchell Johnson with a searing pace in the 2013-14 Ashes series, Mill was on selector’s radar before he sent Graeme Swann to hospital after hitting the England spinner in Australian nets ahead of the 2013-14 Ashes series. 

Ahead of the 2015 County season, Mills switched to Sussex and got to play in the First Division of the Championship. However, he was able to play just a couple of games due to a severe back injury. As a result, the left-arm seamer decided to give up hopes of playing red-ball cricket and focus solely on the shorter formats. 

Mills continued to impress in the shortest format and troubles world-class batsmen with his pace. He picked up 19 wickets in 12 matches in the 2015 T20 Vitality Blast Tournament including a four-wicket haul. Mills dream of representing England became true when he received the maiden call-up for the one-off T20I against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl in 2016. Mills befuddled the batsmen by mixing his slower balls with full-on yorkers. From his 4 overs, he conceded just 22 runs without striking. 

Mills was not considered for the 50-overs format. He continued his T20I journey during the 3-match series against India in 2017 which caught the eyes of various IPL franchises. The English seamer was bought by the IPL giants, Royal Challengers Banglore ahead of their 2017 season and went on to play few games before being released.

Currently aspiring to return back to the international stages, Mills is enjoying his life as a freelancer representing in various domestic T20 leagues around the world and has been able to carve out a career in cricket when it looked impossible.

(As of April 2021)