Tymal Mills' delight at leading Sussex to Finals Day in his first season as their T20 captain was tempered by his frustration that Jofra Archer will be unavailable, due to a scheduling clash that he described as "pretty stupid" and "a real shame".
Blast Finals Day - which sees the two semi-finals and the final played back-to-back-to-back at Edgbaston - will be staged on September 14, with England playing the second and third T20Is of their series against Australia on September 13 and 15. The ECB is working through scenarios but players will only be released if they are not required for the final two T20Is.
"As far as I'm aware, no England players will be available - which is pretty stupid, to be honest," Mills said after captaining Sussex to an eight-wicket win over Lancashire in Wednesday night's quarter-final at Hove, in which Archer took 2 for 20. "Obviously no England players will be there from any side, but it is a real shame for us to lose a player like Jof. Whoever comes in for him will have big boots to fill."
Surrey, who beat Durham at The Oval on Tuesday, will be worst affected, with Jamie Overton called up by England as injury cover on Thursday and joining Sam Curran, Will Jacks and Reece Topley in the T20I squad. They are waiting for confirmation of the availability of their four Test players: Gus Atkinson, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith.
Dan Mousley and Jacob Bethell, the uncapped allrounders, are also in England's T20I squad. "I know Warwickshire will be without Mousley and Bethell - two of their better players - if they beat Gloucestershire on Friday," Mills said. "It's disappointing. This is a big day of the year and you'd like your best players there.
"For us, it hurts us 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 Blast's quarter-finals took place more than six weeks after the end of the group stage, which Kent captain Sam Billings branded "ridiculous" earlier this year. But many counties prefer a long gap as it allows them a bigger window to sell tickets, with a record quarter-final crowd at The Oval on Tuesday and a sellout at Hove on Wednesday.
Sussex have thrived under Mills' leadership this year. They missed out on the quarter-finals under Ravi Bopara's captaincy in 2023, but have won 10 out of 15 games this season. Daniel Hughes, their Australian overseas player, is the Blast's leading run-scorer, Mills himself is the third-highest wicket-taker and James Coles has enjoyed a fine all-round season.
"I love the club," Mills said. "This is my 10th year now, and I don't just want to waste my last few years ticking over and then ride off into the sunset without anything to show for it. I put myself forward for the captaincy when Ravi left… I could have gone elsewhere at some point over the last few years and gone to a bigger club but I live here and this is where I want to be.
"I've never even captained in a club game before, but I've really loved it. I've always been a senior player and I like to think about the game a lot: I don't just stand at fine leg, look at the sky and twiddle my thumbs… One thing I've learned is just to trust your gut. There were a couple of times when I've got a little bit defensive with fields or bowling changes, and it comes back to haunt you.
"I take T20 cricket very seriously, because it's all I do, whereas I felt maybe as a club, there were players that maybe didn't quite take it as seriously - which is hard, when guys are playing all formats. I'm 32 now. I'm not going to be playing forever. I want to win as many games as I can and nothing would mean more to me than winning [the Blast] for Sussex."
Mills has been particularly pleased at Sussex's aggression with the bat, having reached 200 in five out of seven innings while batting first. "We're playing positive, entertaining cricket," he said. "We were poor here [at Hove] for the last few years, and our record here has really improved. I'm really proud of everything that the coaching staff and the players have done to get this far.
"First of all, you want to get out of the group. We did that, and to win a knockout game against a very experienced and talented Lancashire side was obviously really pleasing as well. We'll wait to see who we will play at Edgbaston next Saturday, but we'll turn up expecting to win. That's the attitude now that the team have."