No Mills boon for Gloucestershire

Kyle Mills was a crucial part of New Zealand's attack against England in 2008

New Zealand paceman Kyle Mills will not appear for Gloucestershire this season after being snapped up by an Indian Premier League franchise.

Mills, 29, was bought by Mumbai Indians in the second edition of the overseas player auction for his base price of $150,000, preventing him from taking up his position as Gloucestershire overseas player in the first part of the season.

Gloucestershire chief executive Tom Richardson said: “While the IPL contract is clearly great news for Kyle, it is a blow for us.

“He is the type of player we are looking for and he was keen to come over and join us. Hopefully, that could still happen at a future date.

“In the meantime the completion of the IPL auction makes the situation clearer as to which players will be available for the start of our season and it is still our intention to recruit an overseas bowler.”

Mills, who has played English Minor County Lincolnshire, has 18 Tests and 103 limited-overs internationals to his name.

His second-innings 4-16 at Hamilton led the Black Caps to victory in the first Test against England last winter.

Mills joins Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris as the New Zealand contingent in the second edition of the IPL in April.