Gloucestershire miss out on Mills

Mills snapped up by the IPL

Gloucestershire's hopes of signing New Zealand pace bowler Kyle Mills for the start of the new cricket season have been dashed.

Agreement had been reached for the 29-year-old Kiwi to play for the county for the first part of the summer.

But that plan was subject to Mills not earning a contract in the Indian Premier League.

However, he was snapped up in the auction by Mumbai Indians for his base price of $150,000.

Gloucestershire chief executive Tom Richardson revealed the club's interest in Mills and 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, a right-arm pace bowler, who can also score quick runs, has played in 18 Tests and 92 one-day internationals.

He will join 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.