England’s pacer Tymal Mills backed Jos Buttler’s side to defend the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup which will be played in the United States and West Indies.
Mills, 31, last played T20I match for England on July 7 against India and has been sidelined since then as the left-handed pacer was overshadowed by Mark Wood and Jorfa Archer.
However, with Archer’s injury, England are counting on the 31-year-old and he has been named in a 16-man squad announced for a five-match T20I series against West Indies.
“I was at the zoo with the kids when I got the call to say I was in the squad for this series,” Mills tells i.
“I had a really good summer and played a full summer which was the most important thing. It’s something I haven’t really done before.”
Taking advantage of the call, Mills is willing to do everything he possibly can to make his case strong for the World Cup 2024.
“I want to do everything I can to try and be in that squad for next summer’s World Cup. This is the first step to that.
“They’ve picked a pretty strong squad for this series. It’s pretty full strength apart from the guys going to India for the Test tour [in the New Year]. So it’s good to be in and around that group.”
Mills also recalled last year’s World Cup in Australia where he became part of the squad as a late injury replacement for Reece Topley.
“Of course, I would have loved to have played but I can still say I was part of a World Cup-winning squad,” he says.
There was a lot of talk of change in the white-ball cricket approach after England’s shambolic display in the World Cup 2023 but Mills believes that T20 cricket is entirely different.
“It will be interesting to see if the environment is any different following that World Cup in India,” he says.
“There’s been a lot spoken about the 50-over World Cup. I wasn’t part of it or out there so I can’t give too much comment. But when it comes to T20 cricket I know the preparation for this World Cup is going to be a lot better. We’re playing this series now [in the Caribbean], we have another series at home against Pakistan in May.
“I’m sure the vast majority of the lads will be in the Indian Premier League before that so come World Cup time next summer everyone in that squad will go into it having played a lot of T20 cricket whereas that wasn’t the case with the 50-over World Cup.
“We’ve got enough quality in English cricket. You can put out multiple T20 teams that are really strong. Everybody should be confident but we’ve still got to do it out on the pitch.”