Miller’s maturity key to Proteas’ hopes
Zaahier Adams
David Miller is not South Africa’s leading T20 run scorer in the history of the format for no reason.
Since debuting in the Caribbean in 2010, Miller has developed his game from simply being a basher towards the end of the innings to an intelligent batter that is able to adapt to not only the conditions, but also the match situation.
On Saturday afternoon at the Nassau County Ground in New York, both the aforementioned factors were heavily weighted against Miller.
https://x.com/SuperSportTV/status/1799502932934639940The Proteas were in the perilous position of 12-4 in pursuit of 104 for victory, while the much-maligned New York surface was playing its usual tricks. But Miller showed off all his experience to initially fashion a 65-run stand with young Tristan Stubbs in rebuilding the innings before finishing it off in style with two sixes and a boundary off Bas de Leede’s penultimate over to take the Proteas over the line with an unbeaten 59 off 51 balls.
“In that situation the only thing you can control, which I’ve learnt over the years, is the very next ball,” Miller explained.
“You can quickly kind of fall under a lot of pressure because there’s still 90 to get and you can’t get those in one ball. So, you have to take it just one ball at a time.
“I try to concentrate on the things that I can control: my breathing, my body language, and facing the next ball. And then obviously feeding a lot of confidence off your partner as well.
“In your mind you do have those thoughts that it has been difficult to get boundaries and now we need boundaries. It’s just about managing that space and really trusting that if the ball is there, you’ve got no other option but to take it down.
“Fortunately, it came off. It’s just about being in that positive frame of mind and making sure that you really capitalise if they do give you a bad ball.”
At 34, this T20 jamboree in the US and Caribbean could most likely be Miller’s final shot at glory on the global stage. There are many, though, that have earmarked young Stubbs to take over the mantle from Miller when the veteran southpaw eventually rides off into the sunset.
Stubbs certainly showed that he has the temperament for the big stage with a mature innings of 33 that set up the grandstand finish. Miller is excited by Stubbs’ potential.
“Stubbo was phenomenal out there,” he said. “He always comes with a lot of energy. He’s young and he’s powerful.
“A batting line-up like ours are boundary strikers but it was about managing the singles, getting off strike, rotating the strike and getting momentum through that.”
Both Miller and Stubbs, along with the rest of the Proteas batting unit, will look to build on the momentum of the Dutch victory when they face Bangladesh today in their final match in New York before moving across to the Caribbean for the remainder of the tournament.