Tymal Mills has expressed his frustration that players picked for England's white-ball series against Australia will not be able to take part in T20 Blast finals day, branding the scheduling "stupid".
The Sussex captain led his side to victory in the Blast quarter-finals yesterday (September 4), where they beat Lancashire by eight wickets in front of a home crowd. Jofra Archer was a key part of the win, taking two wickets as Lancashire were bowled out for 114. Lancashire also had the services of England white-ball players Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone and Saqib Mahmood.
Finals day, which sees both semi-finals and the final of the competition played on the same day at Edgbaston, will take place on September 14, sandwiched in between England's second and third T20Is against Australia, on September 13 and 15 respectively.
That means that Sussex will be without Archer for the day, who is included in England's T20I squad. Surrey are the only other side to qualified for the semi-finals so far, and will also be without several players, including Sam Curran, Will Jacks and Reece Topley, with Jamie Overton now also unavailable having been called-up as injury cover for Jos Buttler. It's not yet confirmed whether Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, who have been picked in the ODI squad but have been members of England's Test squad against Sri Lanka, will be available for Surrey for finals day.
Speaking after Sussex's semi-final win, Mills said: "As far as I'm aware, no England players will be available, which is pretty stupid to be honest. Obviously no England players will be there from any side, but it's a real shame for us to lose a player like Jof. Whoever comes in for him will have big boots to fill."
"I know Warwickshire will be without [Jacob] Bethell and [Dan] Mousley – two of their better players – if they beat Gloucestershire on Friday. It's disappointing. this is a big day of the year and you'd like your best players there. For us, it hurts a lot, because you take Jofra Archer out of your team and it is a huge loss.
"Other counties - Surrey, for example – can maybe cover their losses a bit better than what we can, but it is what it is. The XI that's taking the field on the 14th will have to step up. But I'm sure you won't find many people that will agree with the schedule and say, 'Yeah, it's great'."
The issue of England players' availability for Finals Day, the biggest day in the English domestic calendar outside of The Hundred, is not new, but is particularly exacerbated this year because of the clash with and England white-ball series. Last year, Finals Day was held in July, clashing with The Ashes but not any international white-ball series'. As a result, of the teams involved in finals day, only Ollie Pope was unavailable for selection on England grounds. Pope was also injured at the time, having dislocated his shoulder in the second Ashes Test at Lord's.
The scheduling of the Blast this year has come under mixed reviews, with Sam Billings labelling the decision to hold the quarter-finals six weeks after the end of the group stage "ridiculous". However, as demonstrated by a packed house at The Oval and a sold-out crowd at Hove for the first two semi-finals, the larger window to sell tickets has benefitted the hosts of those matches.
The third quarter-final will take place today (September 5), between Northamptonshire and Somerset at Wantage Road, with the fourth quarter-final set for tomorrow between Gloucestershire and Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
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