Mills bolsters Middlesex challenge

Kyle Mills' outstanding form for New Zealand in the Champions Trophy has won him a contract with Middlesex in this summer's Friends Life t20 competition.

Mills, now in his mid-30s, will join up with Middlesex on Friday morning, the day after New Zealand's second t20 International against England at The Oval.

He will play for Middlesex against Kent at Canterbury that evening and is available for the entire tournament, should they progress to finals day.

New Zealand players are in big demand for England's FLt20 competition. Mills is the third signed in not much more than a week, with Nathan McCullum signing for Glamorgan and Mitchell McClenaghan winning a deal with Lancashire.

Mills took six wickets at 10.50 runs each and conceded less than four runs an over as New Zealand narrowly missed out on a place in the Champions Trophy semifinals.

Middlesex CCC's Managing Director of Cricket, Angus Fraser, was delighted at the capture of Mills. "There are several reasons why Kyle is a good and exciting signing for Middlese," he said. "During the recent Champions Trophy he highlighted what a high-quality white-ball bowler he is by topping the tournament averages and having one of the best economy rates.

"Kyle will bring experience and quality to our attack, with his presence also allowing the club to manage the workload of a bowling attack that is competing in all three domestic tournaments.

Middlesex play two LV= Championship matches in the middle of their T20 campaign, matches which could easily go amiss during the concentration on th4e shorter format and undermine a strong Championship challenge which surprisingly faltered with a home defeat against a weakened Yorkshire side.

"Ideally, we want to keep our fast bowers as fresh as we can.," Fraser said. "At the moment we have two or three bowlers who are either injured or recovering from injury. Corey Collymore is not contracted to play t20 cricket and we will also lose Tim Murtagh to Ireland for a week in early July. The squad is looking forward to welcoming Kyle on board."