Cricket

South Africa’s cricket star ‘Killer Miller’ holds unbreakable record

David Miller holds a world cricket record he would favor to not have. No one has performed extra worldwide cricket with out enjoying in a Test match than Miller.

The hard-hitting left-hander has performed in 274 white-ball internationals. The nearest contender for the non-Test record is retired West Indian Keiron Pollard on 224.

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Hasn’t Miller achieved lots in his profession?

“I would have loved to play a Test, but it is what it is,” says Miller, 34. “I’ve achieved quite a lot in my white-ball stuff, and I’m grateful to have played so many games.”

Miller has constructed a stable first-class record, averaging 36.32 in 63 matches, with six centuries, which he backed up with electrifying fielding.

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But it was a time of a lot in a South African Test batting line-up, which included Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis, whereas white-ball cricket was changing into ever extra prevalent — and profitable.

In 2018, nearing his thirtieth birthday, he retired from first-class cricket. “I wasn’t being picked, even for the South Africa A side. There were guys ahead of me, so I decided to concentrate on the white-ball stuff.”

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He is in demand from franchises world wide — enjoying for 22 completely different consultant groups –- and a crowd favorite in South Africa, the place supporters wave banners proclaiming ‘Killer Miller’ and ‘It’s Miller Time’.

He is certainly one of solely 4 gamers who has scored greater than 3,000 runs in one-day internationals with a mean above 40 and a strike price above 100. The others are De Villiers and England’s Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow.

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The cricket star is famend for hitting large sixes

He is famend for hitting large sixes and has cleared all three grandstands on completely different sides of his house floor at Kingsmead in Durban. Recently, he hit a ball out of the bottom in opposition to Australia on the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

An off-the-cuff remark he made after an Indian Premier League recreation is quoted usually: “If it’s in the arc, it’s out (of) the park; if it’s in the vee, it’s in the tree.”

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“That came from my dad,” he says. Andrew Miller was membership cricketer who performed for Natal Country Districts. It’s not all big-hitting, although.

Batting at quantity six in a aspect with out established all-rounders, Miller will doubtless be in conditions on the World Cup the place he must take accountability for rebuilding an innings.

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“It’s about summing up the scenario. Sometimes, you’re batting with the decrease order, and you need to resolve together with your accomplice on the time how you’ll go about it.

What is crucial through the recreation?

“It’s like a chess game at times. You are thinking about moves and what’s important and what’s not. It’s about making clear decisions. It helps your execution when you are fully committed.”

Both sides of Miller have been on show when South Africa needed to win the final three matches of a current house sequence in opposition to Australia after dropping the primary two.

In the fourth match, he thrashed an unbeaten 82 off 45 balls as he and an impressed Heinrich Klaasen added a scarcely plausible 222 off 94 balls for the fifth wicket.

In the deciding match, in trickier circumstances, he made a extra measured 63 off 65 balls to allow South Africa to get to a defendable whole after a troublesome begin.

“The World Cup is very open,” he says. “We’re a pretty experienced team. We’re capable of doing it, so it’s a matter of getting the basics right for longer periods of time.”

cb-dl/DJ

© Agence France-Presse


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