I see someone else can also use the statsguru function to figure out who has a reasonable amount of wickets at a better average than Southee (excluding Harris)
Mills is a bit like Nathan Bracken. Was an essential to the side at the time and gun ODI bowler overall but will forever be overlooked and underrated for more ***y quicks or conventionally established ATG figures like Hadlee
And I feel like Pollock smashing him all over the Cake Tin that time might be more memorable for a lot of people than his many high-quality spells.
I think unfortunately for Mills he will mostly be remembered for being sent in to bat at number 3 in a test match and sledging Faf whilst running the drinks, when really he should be remembered as one of our better or best ODI quicks and for winning us a test vs England
Also played out a huge chunk of his career during some truly difficult times for NZ cricket, the Vettori and Taylor captaincy eras, which most of us would prefer to forget. Him putting in his usual tidy performance with the ball and then being called upon to save the batting from total wreckage was an abiding memory of that 4-0 loss to Bangladesh.
That seems to be the popular perception, but a simple check reveals he averaged 8 overs per ODI. I don’t think him bowling out was necessarily a problem, no one else in the side barring Vettori was particularly good at it.
5-6 up front and then 2-3 with the second ball at the 30 over mark was generally the method. Very rarely bowled after the 40th over, even the 35th
to be fair in his video he said "at 3, 4, 5, doesn't matter which order, it's Williamson, Taylor and Crowe". I'd swap Taylor and Crowe in the order.
I feel like this is the meme for a few NZ quicks in ODIs over the years, Southee especially. Even Henry early on in his career was not great at the death if I recall. It has really been Boult who has been a consistent death bowler for their whole career in the side. Which is how Neesham got lumped with it quite a bit.
Well, he called his list "all-time" so he should be thinking about the past a bit, i.e. before his time. And it takes only a cursory glance at the historical rankings, ratings and records to see that Hadlee should be there. He was speaking off the cuff so maybe that was the reason why but it's a startling omission.
Wow, had no idea Bracken's ODI record was that outstanding.
A NZ all time ODI XI has so many potential all rounders too. You really don't need to worry about Mills bowling 6-8 for 1-20