Tymal Mills unhappy with T20 Blast's "pretty stupid" scheduling

Tymal Mills, who has led Sussex to the semi-finals of the T20 Blast 2024, isn’t happy with the England-Australia T20I series clashing with England’s domestic T20 competition. 

The Blast Finals Day - which will see two semis and the final played back-to-back-to-back on September 14 - will fall right between the second and third T20I between England and Australia. The two T20Is will be played on September 13 and 15. Sussex will be without Jofra Archer, who is part of England’s white-ball unit.

Meanwhile, Surrey will be without Jamie Overton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, and Reece Topley. There’s still no update on whether Gus Atkinson, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith will be available. Warwickshire’s Dan Mousley and Jacob Bethell are also part of the T20I squad. The group stage of the T20 Blast 2024 got over on July 19, with the quarter-final stage beginning on September 3.

"As far as I'm aware, no England players will be available - which is pretty stupid, to be honest. Obviously, no England players will be there from any side, but it is a real shame for us to lose a player like Jof. Whoever comes in for him will have big boots to fill,” said Mills after Sussex defeated Lancashire by eight wickets in the quarter-final.

"I know Warwickshire will be without Mousley and Bethell - two of their better players - if they beat Gloucestershire on Friday. It's disappointing. This is a big day of the year and you'd like your best players there.

"For us, it hurts us a lot because you take Jofra Archer out of your team, and it is a huge loss. Other counties - Surrey, for example - can maybe cover their losses a bit better than what we can, but it is what it is. The XI that's taking the field on the 14th will have to step up. But I'm sure you won't find many people that will agree with the schedule and say, 'Yeah, it's great.'"

Talking about captaining Sussex, Mills said, "I love the club. This is my 10th year now, and I don't just want to waste my last few years ticking over and then ride off into the sunset without anything to show for it. I put myself forward for the captaincy when Ravi left… I could have gone elsewhere at some point over the last few years and gone to a bigger club, but I live here, and this is where I want to be.

"I've never even captained in a club game before, but I've really loved it. I've always been a senior player, and I like to think about the game a lot: I don't just stand at fine leg, look at the sky and twiddle my thumbs… One thing I've learned is just to trust your gut. There were a couple of times when I've got a little bit defensive with fields or bowling changes, and it comes back to haunt you.

"I take T20 cricket very seriously because it's all I do, whereas I felt maybe as a club, there were players that maybe didn't quite take it as seriously - which is hard when guys are playing all formats. I'm 32 now. I'm not going to be playing forever. I want to win as many games as I can and nothing would mean more to me than winning [the Blast] for Sussex."

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