Keith Miller played in all five Tests against England in the 1946–47 Ashes series. He finished the Test series as Australia’s joint leading wicket-taker, along with his new ball partner Ray Lindwall. Miller also played a key role in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield triumph, scoring 667 runs for the State in four matches, all of which were won.
About Keith Miller in the 1946–47 Australian cricket season in brief
Keith Miller played in all five Tests against England in the 1946–47 Ashes series. He finished the Test series as Australia’s joint leading wicket-taker, along with his new ball partner Ray Lindwall. Miller also played a key role in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield triumph, scoring 667 runs for the State in four matches, all of which were won. Miller made his first-class debut for Victoria before World War II as a specialist batsman not known for aggressive play. After the outbreak of war, Miller was deployed to England as a Royal Australian Air Force fighter pilot, flying in combat missions. He was selected for Australian Services cricket team, a military outfit, to play in the Victory Tests against a full-strength England. During the southern hemisphere winter of 1946, Miller had travelled to Boston, Massachusetts to marry Peg Wagner, whom he met during a stopover early in 1943 on the way to military service in the United Kingdom. In the match against Wally Hammond’s visiting English team, Miller struggled while scoring 32 in the first innings before being dismissed by leg spinner Doug Wright. He also bowled by James Langridge for eight in the Victorian second innings. Miller had a chance to push for selection by performing well in front of the Australian national captain Don Bradman. The Victorian Cricket Association made public appeals for an employer to give Miller a job so that he would not leave the state and become a professional sportsman in England.
Miller resolved to remain in Australia, and accepted a job offer in New South Wales, but kept his decision private. He made his Test debut in March 1946 in a one-off match against New Zealand, but this fixture was not given Test status until 1948. The 1946-47 Test series against the touring Englishmen would be his first Ashes one, and Miller was expected to play a prominent role with both bat and ball, especially in countering the visitors’ powerful batting. Miller topped the batting averages and took ten wickets and was hailed for his attacking play. In a rain-affected match against South Australia, Miller made 153 and 206 not out, both at high tempo as Victoria twice defeated arch-rivals New South NSW. Miller was selected to play for an Australian XI against the tourists, but made only five runs with the bat, taking 08 four overs and taking 08 wickets in the match. The tourists won the match by 244 runs, but Miller was not willing to ask Miller to bowl, given his lack of thorough preparation for the season; the Victorian captain Lindsay Hassett did not ask him to bowl. Miller came to the crease at the end of the second day to join Ken Meuleman after the openers had laid a platform with an opening stand of 158 runs before the hosts were dismissed for 270 on the first day. On the third day, Miller took 232 in 11 overs, both bowling both of his victims as the hosts made a first day stand of 26 runs before Meulemen also made a hundred for the hosts.
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