A more productive time followed back in Australia in 1988/89 as he took 23 first-class wickets, including seven in an innings victory in an MG Kailis-Kemplast Trophy game against Tamil Nadu at Perth.
Mullally continued to be a regular pick in the Hampshire side for the next few years, averaging under 20 with the ball in both 2000 and 2001, and claiming five-wicket hauls on six occasions in the latter season, but from 2003 onwards his performances began to fall away, especially in first-class cricket in which he took only 35 wickets in 2003 and 2004 combined.
His county persevered with him for some while, and in 2004 he took 22 List A wickets, but the award of a benefit season in 2005 could not disguise his decline and after a friendly against Kent and three totesport League matches in April and May, he dropped out of the first team entirely.
It was to be in ODIs where Mullally was to make his mark as an England cricketer, not so much for his penetration as for his accuracy: his economy rate was so good that at one time he was listed as the second-best bowler in the world in that form of the game.
In limited-overs cricket, however, he was still considered a central part of the team, and he took 10 wickets at just 17.60 in the 1999 World Cup, second in England's averages (just behind Darren Gough) and with the best economy rate of any English bowler in the competition.