Profile of Keith William Miller on Famous Like Me

Keith Miller Australia (AUS)
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling type	Right-arm fast (RF)
	Tests	First-class
Matches	55	226
Runs scored	2958	14183
Batting average	36.97	48.90
100s/50s	7/13	41/63
Top score	147	281*
Balls bowled	10461	28070
Wickets	170	497
Bowling average	22.97	22.30
5 wickets in innings	7	16
10 wickets in match	1	1
Best bowling	7/60	7/12
Catches/stumpings	38/0	136/0
Test debut: 29 March 1946 Last Test: 17 October 1956 Source:

Keith Ross Miller (born 28 November 1919, died 11 October 2004, Melbourne, Australia) was a famous Australian Test cricketer and World War II pilot.

'Nugget' Miller is best known for his achievements as one of Australia's greatest players in Test cricket. However, as a young boy, he dreamed of becoming a jockey until a growth spurt in his teens saw his sporting interests 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 in a match against Carlton, which was captained by Bill Woodfull, the former Australian captain. Impressed with Miller's performance, Carlton donated a silver cup which Woodfull presented to Miller in the classroom at Melbourne High School, where Woodfull was a mathematics teacher and Miller was a student. The school's oval is now named the Woodfull - Miller Oval in honour of their contributions to Australian cricket.

In his debut for Victoria, in a Second XI match against Tasmania in 1937–38, Miller scored 181. However, as with many of his contemporaries, his cricket career was interrupted by World War II, during which he was a fighter-bomber pilot. He had several close escapes, and injured his back when making a bellylanding after one of his plane's engines failed. This injury restricted his bowling on occasions during his subsequent cricket career.

Miller resumed playing cricket with a bang, starring in the Victory tests in England in 1945 after the war ended. He made his Test debut in Australia's first-ever Test match against New Zealand in March 1946, and was a key member of Donald Bradman's famous Invincibles team which toured England in 1948. He played 55 Test matches for Australia, retiring after the tour of England, Pakistan and India in 1956.

A tall man (6' 5"), Miller played cricket in an extroverted manner. He was a powerful middle order bat, and scored 2,958 runs at an average of 36.97 with a highest score of 147. However, his captains placed a higher value on his ability as a fast bowler. He took 170 wickets at an average of 22.97, which is slightly lower than the averages of Ray Lindwall (23.03) and Dennis Lillee (23.92) who are generally considered to be the finest fast bowlers Australia has produced.

Miller would vary his run-up and would often bowl his fastest deliveries from a shortened run. He would also bowl slower balls to keep the batsmen guessing. A fine fielder in the slips, in fact anywhere in the field, with his movie star good looks he was a crowd favorite. At the time of his retirement from Test cricket in 1956, he had the best statistics of any all-rounder in cricket history. He is still generally considered to be the greatest all-rounder that Australia has produced.

Miller was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1954, and one of the ten inaugural inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996. He is one of only four Australian cricketers, the others being Bradman, Victor Trumper and Shane Warne to be honoured with a portrait in the Lord's Long Room in London.

Miller successfully captained New South Wales, but never captained Australia even though Richie Benaud, one of Australia's greatest Test captains, described him as one of the greatest captains he ever played under. Many believe this was because of his wayward off-field behaviour, disputes with Don Bradman, and his refusal to take cricket too seriously.

On the 1948 tour, after coming in at 2-364, Miller made a duck as Australia scored 721 in a day against Essex. And when asked by Michael Parkinson about pressure on the field, referring to his time as a pilot during World War II, he famously replied "Pressure is a Messerschmidt up your arse, playing cricket is not."

Miller played 50 matches in the VFL for Australian Rules football team St Kilda, mainly at full back and centre half back, and represented Victoria in 1946.

He was named after the Australian pioneer aviator brothers Keith and Ross Smith.

External link

• Keith Miller Cricinfo Biography

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Keith William Miller