Tymal Mills out of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to sustaining injury

England fast bowler Tymal Mills has been ruled out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after sustaining a strain to his right thigh.

Mills was playing in England’s fourth Super 12s match against Sri Lanka on Monday but had to walk off the field before the end of play.

Nine balls into his spell in Sharjah, Mills limped off the pitch and underwent a scan on Tuesday night.

The scan has since revealed the extent of the strain and the left-armer has had to be ruled out of the rest of the T20 World Cup.

England reserve left-arm pacer Reece Topley has been named as the replacement for Mills.

The Sussex bowler played his first international T20 debut in 2016 against Sri Lanka and was then picked for the 2016 T20I series against India.

Mills did not start his international career with much success and, although he was on the radar until 2018, he was not picked for any matches.

The paceman was one of the Southern Brave star performers in this summer’s inaugural The Hundred competition. He took eight wickets during the competition including a staggering three for eight runs against the Trent Rockets.

Off the back of his summer success, Mills was recalled for the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and quickly became an exceptionally key player for England. He has taken seven wickets in the three full matches he has played with his best figures of 3-27 coming in England’s eight wicket win over Bangladesh.

England have had an unchanged squad for their first four matches and looked likely to keep the same players in their upcoming match against South Africa on Saturday but will now look to Topley or Mark Wood to produce the required pace for the squad.

Mills will now likely be out for at least a month while he recovers. This will not be the first time Mills has been plagued by injury as in 2015 the former Essex player was diagnosed with a congenital back condition. The 29-year old also recently spent three months in the 2020/21 winter recovering from a stress fracture.

Surrey’s Reece Topley will now take Mills’ spot in the squad. Topley’s T20 debut came in 2015 when England took on Australia and he finished on figures of 0-33. In the six T20I Topley has played since then, he has taken five wickets with a T20I career best of 3-24.

England’s next T20 World Cup match is on Saturday 6 November 2021 against South Africa. The game, which will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, will start at 2pm BST.

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