R.I.P. Keith 'Nugget' Miller.

[Donny]

Aussie great, Keith Miller, has passed away. He was 84.

Miller, one of Australia's greatest ever cricketers, played 55 Tests, scored 2958 runs at an average of 36.97 and took 170 wickets @ 22.97.

He also played 50 VFL games for St Kilda and represented Victoria in 1946.

'Nugget' – so-called because he was Australia's 'Golden Boy' – was named after two pioneer Australian aviators – Keith and Ross Smith.

He was also a fighter pilot in the Second World War.

He scored 7 Test centuries - 3 against England and 4 against The West Indies. An indication of the high respect opposition players held for him was from West Indies captain, John Goddard. "Give us Keith Miller and we'd beat the world."

[Donny]

Miller the magnificant

John Arlott recalls Keith Miller, Australia's charismatic allrounder of the 1940s and 1950s


Keith Miller was arguably the greatest Australian allrounder; perhaps appreciated even more in England than in his own country. Here he became both a cricketing hero and a popular human being; for it is important to realise that, outstanding as he was at cricket, the game was for him only a part of living life as fully as a man might do.

At home, though, he tended to find officialdom petty; and certainly it took its toll of him, above all by denying him the captaincy of Australia for which he was so well-qualified. There is, though, no great point in arguing a case for so well-loved a player; and indeed no-one ever needed it less.

For the full article, go to: www.cricinfo.com

[Donny]

Keith Miller 1919-2004

Tributes and testimonies

From www.baggygreen.com.au


"Miller was my hero and he was the greatest allrounder I ever played with or against." Richie Benaud who bowled alongside Miller for New South Wales and Australia

"The Errol Flynn of the game." Former team-mate and Test allrounder Alan Davidson

"I was in Keith's shadow all my career ... and it was a pretty big shadow." Sam Loxton remembers a fellow Invincible

"He was the finest allrounder I came into contact with – he could bat, bowl, field and he could fly an aeroplane. I know he flew Mosquitoes and they were in the thick of the action, and I admire him for that very much." Miller's former captain and Australia's oldest living Test player Bill Brown

"He's what you call a man's man … he lived life to the full. England thought the world of Keith." Sir Alec Bedser who played against Miller in five Ashes series

"A superstar in his own era." Steve Waugh

"Keith Miller was the ultimate Australian sportsman. He played cricket and Australian Rules football at the highest level. The stories about his sporting exploits are legendary. He was a wonderful man." Shane Warne who, like Miller, played cricket for Victoria and Australia and Australian rules football for St Kilda

"Keith Miller was a genuine legend, a man whose dashing approach helped cricket regain its place in the public affection after the dark years of World War II." Cricket Australia chairman Bob Merriman

"He was tall and broad with a spectacular mane of black hair. He was something to behold bowling fast and furiously from his long run, batting with characteristic abandon or running at speed to take an improbable catch or fielding with flair. He was the definitive all-rounder." The Australian

"Stories about him became legion. One, probably apocryphal, has it that Don Bradman answered a knock on his door one night to be met by a dinner-suited Miller, who was doing his captain the courtesy of saying he had been in bed at curfew, as demanded by Bradman – and was now going out." The Age

"It is hard to know whether his fame owes more to his cricket or his character, and it is probably futile to debate it. They were both important parts of the package." Courier-Mail

[Johnson#26]

RIP Nugget.

[pies4ever]

State funeral for cricket legend Miller
October 13, 2004

CRICKET legend Keith Miller will be farewelled with a state funeral in Melbourne next week.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks today announced a state funeral would be held on Wednesday, October 20, at St Paul's Cathedral for Miller, who died on Monday, aged 84.

Miller was born in Sunshine in Melbourne's western suburbs in 1919, and represented Victoria in both cricket and football, before going on to iconic status as a member of The Invincibles, the national cricket team that toured England undefeated in 1948.

"Keith Miller was one of the greatest sportsmen our state has produced," Mr Bracks said.

"I'm sure many Victorians will want to join together in celebrating his life.

"Whether representing his country on the sporting field, or as a fighter pilot in the Second World War, he always displayed outstanding character and humanity."

Miller played 55 Test matches for Australia, and 50 games for St Kilda and Victoria in football.

Part of a famous opening bowling combination with Ray Lindwall, Miller took 170 Test wickets at 22.98 runs. He scored 2958 Test runs, with seven centuries, at 36.98 an innings.

He is one of only three Australians to have their portrait hanging in the member's pavilion at Lord's in London, along with Sir Donald Bradman and Victor Trumper.

Miller, who was a fighter-bomber pilot for the RAAF, was as renowned for the panache in which he played and lived as for his cricketing record.

The state funeral will be held at St Paul's at 1pm (AEST) next Wednesday.

AAP

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,11060884-23210,00.html