Keith Ross Miller, MBE (28
November 1919-11 October 2004), was a famous Australian Test cricketer and World War II pilot. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite. An
English journalist called Miller "the golden boy" of cricket, leading to him being nicknamed
"Nugget".
By the time of his retirement from Test Cricket in 1956,
Miller had the best statistics of any all-rounder in cricket history. He often batted high in the order, sometimes as high as
number three. He was a powerful striker of the ball, and one straight six that he hit
at the Sydney Cricket Ground was still rising when it hit the first deck of the
M.A. Noble Stand. When bowling, Miller was famous for varying his run-up, would often
bowl his fastest deliveries from a short run and frequently bowled much slower balls, to surprise batsmen. He averaged just over
three wickets per game, because he was used sparingly in his later career, due to a wartime injury. In addition, he was also a
fine fielder, from any position, especially slips.
Miller was also a successful Australian rules footballer, and played for
St Kilda and the Victorian state team, at fullback. He played 50 games for the Saints,
and occasionally played in the forward line, where he kicked eight goals in
one game, during 1941.
Early life and sporting career
Miller was born in Sunshine, Victoria, and was named after the Australian pioneer
aviator brothers Keith and Ross
Smith. He studied at Box Hill High School before moving to Melbourne High School.
As a young boy, Miller aspired to become a jockey until a growth spurt in his teens caused his attention to turn to cricket.
He first came to public notice for his cricket ability at the age of 16, when he scored 61 for South Melbourne Cricket Club in a
match against Carlton Cricket Club, which was captained by Bill Woodfull, a former
Australian captain. Impressed with Miller's performance, Carlton donated a silver cup, which Woodfull presented to Miller in the
classroom at Melbourne High, where Woodfull happened to be a mathematics teacher. (The school's oval is now known as the
Woodfull-Miller Oval.)
In his debut for Victoria, in a Second XI match against Tasmania in 1937–38, Miller scored 181.
He also showed ability in Australian rules football — keeping Bob Pratt goalless in a
VFA match in 1939, and being signed for a short career with St Kilda.
War service
Keith Miller's Test career batting performances.
As was the case with many of his contemporaries, Miller's sporting career was interrupted by World War II. On January 30,
1942 he joined the Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF). He trained at flying schools at Cunderdin, Western Australia and
Mallala, South Australia, and was posted to Europe in January 1943.
He served primarily with No. 169 Squadron, Royal Air
Force in the UK, as a pilot of Mosquito fighter-bombers. Miller had several
narrow escapes, and injured his back when making a belly landing, after one of his plane's engines failed. This injury restricted
his bowling on some occasions during his subsequent cricket career. (When asked many years later by Michael Parkinson, about pressure on the cricket field, Miller responded with the famous quote:
"pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not.")
One of Miller's closest friends was an English cricket star, Denis Compton. They first
met in India during the war, in a match at Calcutta between
an Australian armed forces team and East Zone. During East Zone's second innings,
play was interrupted by rioting, including a pitch invasion, when Compton was on 94 runs. One of the rioters ran up to him and
said: "Mr Compton, you very good player, but the match must stop now." In later years, Miller would quote this remark whenever
Compton came to the crease in matches featuring both of them. (In 2005, the
ECB and Cricket Australia
decided that the player adjudged the Player of the Series in the Ashes would be awarded the
Miller-Compton Medal, recognising their friendship and rivalry.)
Post-war sporting career
Miller plays an on drive for Victoria.
After the war ended, Miller resumed playing cricket in the Victory Tests, in
England, during 1945.
He was formally discharged by the RAAF on June 26, 1946, with the rank of Flight
Lieutenant.
Later in 1946, after returning to Australia, he made his Test Cricket debut in Australia's first-ever match against
New Zealand, in March 1946. Miller
resumed his football career with St Kilda and was a member of the Victorian state team in 1946, but left the game after that
season, to concentrate on cricket.
For the 1946-47 season, he transferred to the New South Wales (NSW) team and
played the remainder of his Sheffield Shield career with it.
He was a key member of Donald Bradman's famous Invincibles touring party, which was undefeated on its tour of England in
1948.
Miller played 55 Test matches for Australia, retiring after the tour of England, Pakistan and India in 1956. He retired from
NSW after the 1958-59 season.
Although he captained NSW, he never captained Australia, even though Richie Benaud
described Miller as one of the best captains he ever played under. Many believe that this was because of Miller's wayward
off-field behaviour, disputes with Bradman, and his refusal to take cricket too seriously. For example, he sometimes set his
field by saying to his players: "scatter". On another occasion, he is reported to have said, after being told that NSW was taking
the field with one player too many: "I say, will one of you chaps piss off?" On the 1948 tour, when Australia played
Essex, Miller was sent in to bat when Australia had already accumulated a substantial score of
2-364 (and eventually made 721 on the first day); he stepped away from the stumps,
letting himself be bowled out first ball, so that he could visit a local racecourse.
Honours
External links
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