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| Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
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One of Keith Miller's sixes lodged in roof of commentator's box by A.C. de Silva England has many cricket grounds where Test matches have been played over the years and Leeds has been one of the foremost grounds where the cricketers have revelled. There have been two unforgettable cricket records that have been established on this ground. The first is the hurricane knock of 334 by Sir Donald Bradman of Australia in 1930 against England and this landmark has stood the test of time and no other batsmen has got up to that mark. In Bradman's majestic knock, 309 runs were scored in just one day, in 6 hours and that too on the opening day itself. He registered a century before lunch (105), another century (115) between lunch and tea and 89 runs in the last session of the day, thus creating a world record. Good things, they say, don't come regularly and one has to wait for them. The next memorable display of cricket came 22 years later in which the Indians were involved and where the Englishmen took the upper hand. In three sensational overs, two by Freddie Trueman and one by Alec Bedser, the first four Indians, Pankaj Roy, Dattaji Gaekwad, Madhav Mantri and Vijay Manjrekar were dismissed for zero. Trueman took three wickets and Bedser accounted for the other. This four for no score is without a parallel in Test cricket history. Australia - down and out in the Test series against England recently, seemed to make a quick recovery and made it three-nil in the one-day series against the World XI. Knowing the Australians for their fighting qualities,they are bound to make a comeback in Tests too. In years gone by, the Australians had champion cricketers and besides the 'Don', who was number one, there was also another around 60 years ago - that's around 1945 in Keith Miller. Born in a place called Sunshine (a Melbourne suburb) on November 28th 1919, this cricketer was destined to make capital of "Sunshine" and made his field in no uncertain manner. Sir Neville Cardus, called him: "An Australian in excelus' while Sir Robert Menzies - the Australian P.M. hung a photograph of Miller in his Canberra Office, with the cover having an inscription that "would have provoked immense joy in ancient Athens." Miller was once dubbed 'the Byron of cricket,' but was better known as 'the Nugget whom Wisden felt would have enriched even the Golden Age'. John Arlott - the famous commentator claimed Miller 'had the potential to become the best batsman, best bowler and best fielder in the world', Test cricket - a picnic "Test cricket was a bloody picnic to me" Miller once said, "I used to play to win, but mainly for enjoyment." So, if Miller is to be remembered in one innings, what better than his unforgettable assault on the Lord's pavilion in 1945. This was in the match between the Dominions captained by Learie Constantine in the absence of indisposed Lindsay Hassett, and England in August that year, the season immediately following the end of World War II. The England team had men like Hammond, Hutton and Compton. Everyone wanted to enjoy themselves - they were so happy that the war was over. Miller, playing for the Dominions made 185 in 165 minutes and his knock included seven sixes and thirteen fours in a two-and-a-quarter-hour innings and the Dominions folded up for 336 all out in the second innings having made 307 on the first day, England had made 287 with Wally Hammond - the skipper making 121 and after somewhat failing in the first innings, making just 26 runs, Miller came in all his glory on the second day making 61 not out in the Dominions total of 145 for 3 wickets. However, when day number three came, Miller inquired from umpire Archie Fowler: "Is it true that the only player to hit a ball over the pavilion was Albert Trott (another Australian) on 1899? When Fowler confirmed the fact, Miller declared, "Well Archie, I'm going to clear it this morning." He did not quite make it, but the crowd was treated to some lusty hitting. The match was one of the finest games seen in England, appropriate to the mood of the hour. It produced a total of 1,241 runs, including sixteen sixes, a century in each England innings by Hammond, and grand hundreds for the Dominions by Martin Donnelly - the New Zealander, and Miller. England were called on to make 357 runs for a win. Though Hammond hit his second century on the match, but apart from Davies, there was little support and the home side fell short by 45 runs when they were all out just ten minutes from the scheduled close. Memorable hit 'The final stage of the match, as it is recorded, will be remembered chiefly for the glorious driving of Miller. He outshone everyone by his dazzling hitting. He raised his overnight 61 to 185 in a superb display of batting and Constantine (40) put on 117. Though travelling at such a pace, Miller played faultlessly. One of his seven 6's set the whole crowd talking. It was a terrific on-drive off Hollies, and the ball lodged in the small roof of the broadcasting box above the England players' dressing-room." This was a wonderful finish to his season at Lord's, where in four first-class matches he scored 568 runs in eight innings, twice not out, with three centuries and an average of 94.68. One is inclined to remark that it was only the beginning of a dazzling career, in post-war cricket. Miller scored 41 hundreds in his career. He took 170 wickets in Tests and scored 2958 runs. Many of his catches bordered on the miraculous. One cannot do better than quote John Arlott for a true assessment of Miller: "With the physique of an athlete, and aptitude for every part of cricket, Keith Miller was a towering player, who won matches by his batting, bowling and fielding. A bat, to him, was an attacking weapon. Inherently a forward player he struck the ball on fast wickets with force and majesty. If one of his powers has to be set above the others, it must be his bowling, for with his high, flowing action he could bowl up to full fast speed and yet make the ball move late in flight or off the seam, so penetratingly as to beat the best batsmen in the world on plumb wickets. His bouncer was sudden and venomous. He took any run up that occurred to him: off fifteen yards he would check at the last moment and deliver a blind length googly, or he would toss back his huge flop of hair and, from three paces, blast through a batsman's defence with a yorker. Sometimes cricket bored him: when it challenged him he was at his
princely-though apparently negligent - best, spontaneously generous, and
convivial, Keith Miller was one of the most colourful and brilliant of all
cricketers. |
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