Tymal Mills

Tymal Mills answering All Out Cricket magazine's Twenty One questions, an undemanding assignment

21 Questions: Tymal Mills

The fastest arm on the South Coast could become a nice sobriquet though.

Interesting article here  Can Tymal Mills fill England's bowling vaccum? on our new (very) fast bowler. Both Joyce and Robinson stress in the article the managing of expectations, in view of the serious viral illness he suffered from up till last winter, and his inexperience in almost all forms of the game. Robinson is particularly cautious "you need a balance as well. No one will survive going at a lot an over, especially if the other end is doing the same." That perhaps suggests that he's unlikely to bowl in tandem with Hobden say, at present, or Anyon when he is fit. Mills has serious pace but in a real contest, particularly on a slow wicket, if he doesn't bully a batsman out straight away he is likely to give a boundary and maybe a couple of wides an over, certainly to experienced batsmen.

That shouldn't hold him back from using what he does best - to bowl really fast. If his strength and fitness hold and Robinson and Joyce continue to have faith in him I can see him playing in perhaps 8 or 10 games this year and making an impact, and learning more about the game for greater consistency in following years.

wright said in interview after the game yesterday that mills was being considered for Sundays match!

So now we know, Mills won't be available for four day cricket until July at the earliest, but it's possible that he can continue appearing in T20 games. This is a huge set back for our championship hopes, with four other championship bowlers currently unavailable. It leaves us in the impossible situation of being able to call on three specialist red ball bowlers, and one of them really shouldn't be playing. Hobden clearly needs some time out in the seconds to work on the gremlins that have plagued his bowling early season. So basically, we have only the veteran Magoffin, whose workload, ironically we planned to ease this season, and the young tyro, Robinson. Shahzad may be back soon, but that will still not be enough, we need reinforcements, and quick. Whether or not we can find the right quality in a short term loan deal, I'm not sure. We are unlikely to get any assistance from our division one rivals, so that would leave us looking at the second tier squads to see if there was anyone surplus to requirements, so probably our best bet, quality wise, is the Kolpak route. Not sure who might be available, but there's been a steady stream of players coming over to play county cricket. Quite what all this means for the budget, I don't know, but it will obviously be a headache for Robbo/Jim and the club. However, by not doing anything, we run the risk of our season falling apart, and our championship hopes, at least, disappearing

Well Jimmy did bowl three overs yesterday. With no Mills in the championship, yes we need Shahzad to remain fit, or we are in a worse position than we were last season. We are unable to call on Chris Jordan this year, and last years fears about Magoffin's workload, could be realised if Shahzad is not playing regularly. Certainly, the emergence of young bowlers, Hobden and Robinson, should give us more options.

One has tremendous sympathy for a young seamer who has been told by a medical profession that his career dreams have been
thwarted by "a narrow spinal cord", yet six months ago they were saying his back problem was due to "a virus" within the spine.

A recent example is Flintoff who was told by so-called "Harley Street experts" that he would never play cricket again due to his
knee injury yet a few years later was bowling for Lancashire followed by the BBL in Australia where he became a public favourite
that led him to winning the Australian version of 'Celebrity Jungle - Get me outta here!' 

The silver lining for Sussex is that Mills has the potential of becoming a top T20 death bowler and is a natural successor for Chris
Liddle whose contract ends at the end of this season. I was particularly impressed by Mills on Sunday who showed intelligence
and stealth plus confidence and ability in bowling the final crucial over which helped Sussex win the match.

It is unclear whether his narrow spinal cord will stop him from bowling in the 50 over competition but only time will tell. Obviously,
he is a loss for the Championship but with the signing of Robinson and the improvement of Hobden, how big a miss is he? 

Once his disappointment fades Mills still has a lot going for him. By focussing on the OD formats only, he could become a major 
force and with regular nets his batting should improve too. Mills also has the different world Franchises beckoning him up the road
where he could become successful.

The bottom line is Robinson took a gamble with Mills which quickly and quite spectacularly hasn't come off. Yet, there is half the
money lying on the table still to be used. Imho, Mills has the potential to become one of England's top OD seamers, so long as
his spine doesn't narrow further (?)

What? Well shag my boots. Why hasn't his puny spinal cord been noticed earlier? Gotta feel for the lad himself mind. T20 strike bowler then.