Tymal Mills, a fast bowler for England, announced on Wednesday that he had withdrew from competing in the Twenty20 Big Bash League because his daughter, who is two years old, had a stroke right before they boarded their aircraft to Australia. Mills’ decision was made because of the stroke.
The left-arm fast, who was not used during England’s triumphant run at the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia a month ago, has backed out of a scheduled stint with the Perth Scorchers, citing a “family issue” as the reason for his decision.
The 30-year-old revealed additional information on Wednesday, when he uploaded a photo on Instagram showing his family leaving the hospital. The photo was accompanied by a caption explaining what had happened.
Alongside the picture, he posted the following: “After the eleven most excruciating days, I am finally home for Christmas. Our daughter had what ultimately turned out to be a stroke as we were getting ready to board the plane to Australia when we were at the airport.
She was unable to use the left side of her body at all, and the doctors informed us they were unable to determine how much function she might regain in the future.
He added: “In spite of the difficulties she encountered, our little girl has astounded everyone with the speed and extent of her recovery, to the point where she was able to jump and skip out of the hospital with us once we received our discharge.
“She has a long road ahead of her filled with rehabilitation, medication, and scans, but we couldn’t be more thankful for where we are right now.”
Mills was on the verge of returning to Western Australia after being signed by the team in the player draught for the inaugural season of the Big Bash League earlier this year. He played seven games for the Scorchers during their championship run in the previous season.