Englishman ruled out of BBL|08 with hamstring strain, Hobart to name an injury replacement player
Hurricanes lose Mills for tournament
Hobart Hurricanes are on the hunt for an overseas star after speedster Tymal Mills was ruled out the KFC Big Bash season due to injury.
Mills missed the Hurricanes' opening match of BBL|08 on Saturday after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring strain in a warm-up game in Hobart earlier this week.
Given the Englishman is expected to be out for eight weeks, Hobart have confirmed he will take no part in the tournament and will instead search the globe for a replacement international player.
"This comes at a really unfortunate time for Tymal," said coach Adam Griffith.
"He was bowling well and feeling really good as a result of playing cricket throughout the year leading up to the Big Bash season."
A gutted Mills took to Twitter to express his disappointment at the injury blow after arriving in Hobart in "the best shape of my career".
Beyond gutted 😪😞. Arrived out here in probably the best shape of my career so to go down before the tournament had begun is so disappointing. Backing the boys all the way and will be supporting from back home @HurricanesBBL 🌪 https://t.co/PlHDzvGQix— Tymal Mills (@tmills15) December 23, 2018
Whether the Hurricanes look to replace Mills with a like-for-like player remains to be seen given their strong bowling stocks.
Their other overseas player, Jofra Archer, was one of the finds of last year's BBL season and looked back to his best in the Hurricanes' 15-run win over Brisbane Heat on Saturday.
They've also been bolstered on the bowling front by the signings of James Faulkner and Johan Botha while up-and-coming quick Riley Meredith, the man who replaced Mills in the Hurricanes side for last year's semi-final, has impressed in a similar role.
It's understood the Hurricanes will consider replacing Mills with a batsman, but finding a quality top-order player this late in the picture could be a difficult task.
Mills, a left-armer who can hit speeds of 150kph, signed a two-year deal with the Hurricanes ahead of BBL|07 but had a torrid first campaign.
From 10 matches last season, he took eight wickets and conceded 389 runs at an economy rate of 9.73 before being dropped for the semi against Perth Scorchers. The Hurricanes won that match but were defeated by the Adelaide Strikers in the final.
Hurricanes chief executive Nick Cummins admitted in June they were concerned over the injury-plagued quick's fitness.
Mills was forced to retire from first-class cricket in 2015 due to a congenital back condition but has forged a career as a T20 specialist.
He's since played four T20 Internationals for England while he was included in an ICC 'World XI' to play the West Indies earlier this year.
He was also the second-most expensive signing at the 2017 IPL auction where he was bought for an eye-popping A$2.5 million.