Tymal Mills should lead England’s bowling attack in the T20 World Cup

Tymal Mills has been out of England’s white-ball squad for more than five years now. Reappearing back problems have hindered his progress at the international stage and despite being just 29 years old, his international career seemed to be over. However, things have changed in the last couple of months. The ICC T20 World Cup […]
 
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Tymal Mills should lead England’s bowling attack in the T20 World Cup

Tymal Mills has been out of England’s white-ball squad for more than five years now. Reappearing back problems have hindered his progress at the international stage and despite being just 29 years old, his international career seemed to be over.

However, things have changed in the last couple of months. The ICC T20 World Cup is in October and Mills has made a case for himself to board the flight to the UAE with a superlative performance in The Hundred. Jofra Archer, the leader of England’s white-ball attack, has also been ruled out of all cricket for the rest of the year with an elbow injury and that has strengthened Mills’ chances of earning a recall further.

Mills was one of the standout bowlers in the recently concluded The Hundred and his performance was one of the main reasons why the Southern Brave could win the title. He bowled a total of 187 balls in the competition and conceded just 211 runs. That’s just 1.11 runs per ball. In T20 terms, that is an economy rate of 6.67 — the second best among bowlers who had bowled at least 100 deliveries in the entire duration of the tournament. 

Players Economy Rate Wickets Average Strike-rate
Adam Milne 5.72 12 10.33 10.83
Tymal Mills 6.67 8 26.00 23.38
Mujeeb Ur Rahman 7.06 5 28.0 23.80
Mason Crane 7.20 6 23.00 19.17
Benny Howell 7.28 10 18.80 15.50

Table: Best economy rate in The Hundred Men’s Competition 2021

The left-arm pacer was superb both with the new ball and in the death overs. He did well whenever he was called upon to bowl in the middle-overs as well. Mills showed supreme control over his yorkers and his change of pace was so deceptive that it kept bamboozling the batsmen. While he delivered rockets at more than 90mph, he also bowled slower deliveries at 75mph or so.

Tymal Mills should lead England’s bowling attack in the T20 World Cup

Also ReadEngland lose Jofra Archer for New Zealand Tests due to elbow injury concern

 

In terms of picking up wickets, his strike-rate wasn’t the best. However, he gave his team controlled aggression. According to research done by Cricket Bet India his economy was the best among all the English pacers who played in the tournament. 

Players Economy Rate Wickets Average Strike-rate
Tymal Mills 6.67 8 26.00 23.38
Benny Howell 7.28 10 18.80 15.50
Saqib Mahmood  8.65 5 34.60 24.00
Tim Curran 8.80 10 17.90 12.20
George Garton 8.85 10 23.00 15.60
Chris Jordan 9.33 9 31.11 20.00
Reece Topley 9.47 4 43.00 27.25
Blake Cullen 10.20 10 20.40 12.00
David Payne 10.66 6 37.00 20.83

Table: Performance of England bowlers who bowled 100 or more balls in The Hundred Men’s Competition 2021

With such a good performance, Mills has summed up that he is the best option England have when it comes to matching Archer’s abilities. Like Archer, Mills is a top-tail bowler who can bowl both with the new-ball and in the death overs. They bowl at a similar pace too and have good Yorker bowling skills as well. Moreover, Mills has an advantage over Archer as he gives England the left-arm angle and is better with his slower deliveries than Archer.

It remains to be seen whether England call up Mills for the T20 World Cup. If they do, they will still have a good chance of winning the Mega event. If they don’t, their chances will decrease massively.