Paceman shrugs off rehab after knee surgery as Black Caps chase world T20 glory in Caribbean
During the Australian tour of New Zealand last month, Dan Vettori was bemoaning the inability of the national selectors to have a full list of fit players from whom to make their picks.
As he did so, Kyle Mills' name would have been near the front of his mind.
There were undoubtedly others - Shane Bond, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder leap to mind - but Mills has been a key performer for New Zealand in the limited-overs versions of the game in the last few seasons.
His 110 ODIs have produced a highly impressive 162 wickets at 26.45; in 15 T20 internationals he's taken 16 wickets, and handily averages 14.62 with the bat down the order.
So losing him for the entire home campaign against Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia was a telling blow for the selectors, of whom national skipper Vettori is one, along with coach Mark Greatbatch and Glenn Turner.
Mills' last cricket for New Zealand was a couple of ODIs against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in November.
Since then, he's had shoulder and knee surgery, followed by a gruelling rehabilitation programme.
His mind was always focused on the world T20 championship, which starts for New Zealand tomorrow, against Sri Lanka in Guyana.
"I've definitely pushed the envelope to get here," Mills said. "My initial goal was to try and be back for this tournament so it's been a pretty aggressive rehabilitation."
It was recovery on two fronts and the nature of the injuries made things tricky. "If I was just having shoulder surgery I could still run, but I couldn't push weights because the shoulder wasn't right. I was trying to play catch up towards the end."
Resuming running was the most difficult part of the process after the knee surgery - "I had a few ups and downs with the knee".
The upshot was that 31-year-old Mills in a sense reverted to the old school way of preparing for a campaign.
In days gone by, the old bowling sweats swore the best way to get fit for their job was to head for the nets. Gym bunnies they were not.
"So I just focused on getting bowling fit rather than going out running a lot of kilometres," Mills said.
"I've done more bowling than I probably anticipated, but in hindsight that's probably been a good thing. I'm more conditioned to cricket specific stuff than conditioned to running on the roads."
Each time Mills has done a winter fitness programme it's included plenty of running and speed work before heading for the nets.
This time it was bowling, with bike work replacing the running.
It has required careful planning with the team's medical staff so he gets his recuperation just right.
He was in the nets bowling at the New Zealand batsmen before the Hamilton test against Australia in late March. He completed the training week in Brisbane satisfactorily - one of the fragile five making their way back from injuries, also including Ian Butler, Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder and Oram - and had some bowling in the two warmup wins against Ireland and the West Indies this week.
Mills spent part of his time on the sidelines holding a microphone. He enjoyed the experience, admits he's a "massive fan" of the game, which is not as common a sentiment among leading players as you might expect.
"I love watching it, but it was pretty tough watching the Aussies because that's the series you always want to be involved in, and I thought we had a great opportunity to beat them."
It was not to be, but he fancies New Zealand's prospects in the Caribbean.
A year ago, it was a similar story in England, until New Zealand got cleaned out by Pakistan for 99, then rolled over by Sri Lanka, who went on to be eventual finalists.
"I think this is a better squad. We've introduced Shane Bond to the squad as well and we've got a great chance of competing really well.
"I've noticed you do need a bit of luck, and that can go either way but hopefully we can ride it and come out on top."
The signs are that this might not be a tournament for the fast men to savour. Slow and low pitches are tipped to be more the norm than the exception at the three venues, Guyana, Barbados and St Lucia. But a penetrative, tight-fisted Mills from the start of the tournament tomorrow, in tandem with Shane Bond - Mills and Bond, there's a book in there somewhere - should significantly help New Zealand at least match if not exceed their usual semifinal finish.
NZ SQUAD
Dan Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Aaron Redmond, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Gareth Hopkins, Rob Nicol, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Ian Butler, Shane Bond
FOUR TO FANCY
Sri Lanka
Beaten in last year's final by Pakistan, but possessing plenty of mercurial cricketers.
Any attack including Lasith Malinga, with his colourful hairdos and rapid round armers, Muttiah Muralitharan, who may be fading but is still awkward, fellow spinner Ajantha Mendis, fast-medium pair Angelo Matthews and Nuwan Kulasekera is going to be competitive.
The batting, with captain Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillekaratne Dilshan - player of the tournament last year - and Chamara Kapugedera, 61 off 35 balls against South Africa this week, has potential to punish.
West Indies
Don't snigger. Notwithstanding a pretty hopeless capitulation against New Zealand in Guyana yesterday, they're at home and well capable if they can get on a roll.
Sure they'll rely heavily on a small handful of players, and it could go badly wrong.
Captain Chris Gayle, veterans Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan simply must get runs. End of story.
There are the derring-go all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard to kick things along and play key roles with the ball.
Throw in Sulieman "Big" Benn's left arm spin, and capable fast-medium men like Darren Sammy, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor and they could upset the applecart.
They have a potentially awkward Super Eight group - Sri Lanka, India and Australia.
Get through that and they'll well and truly be in business.
Australia
Yet to make a world T20 final, and that's unusual, and they'll figure overdue.
They have punch at the top with David Warner and Shane Watson, the classy Michael Clarke, a free hitter in David Hussey and the versatile Brad Haddin.
Mitchell Johnson is the bowling kingpin and there is spin both ways from promising leggie Steven Smith and Nathan Hauritz.
Other teams might reckon they're a bit skinny round the middle order and with the new ball. But you write off the Aussies at your peril.
Pakistan
What to make of the defending champions?
They're coming into the tournament on the back of more trouble at home, with senior players suspended and fined in the wake of the tour of New Zealand and Australia.
One of them, Shahid Afridi, is now captain, so figure that out. But he's also someone who appeals as a leader in the "follow me boys" mode.
Their bowling should be capable, the batting capable of brilliance from the likes of brothers Umar and Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt and big-hitting allrounder Abdul Razzaq, but there's the rub. They might equally be poor. Low, slow pitches won't hurt them either.
If they make the Super Eight, and start well against England they could be worth a gentle dollar or two. They don't look as strong as last year's side, but if they settle quickly and find harmony off the park they won't be the worst around.
