Within the 2019 World Cup, the place South Africa was eradicated after successful solely one among its first seven video games, David Miller eked out solely 136 runs in 4 innings at a strike price of 86.
4 years later, in what’s prone to be his final tilt on the World title, it was Miller’s lonely and aggressive riposte that dragged South Africa from a dreary 24-4 to a aggressive 212 within the second semifinal in opposition to Australia on Thursday.
The close to 46,000-strong crowd on the Eden Gardens in Kolkata erupted in pleasure as Miller went to his first ODI century in over 5 years with a 94-metre six off 115 balls. Not solely was it the highest particular person rating by a South African in a World Cup knockout, it additionally gave Temba Bavuma’s males a combating likelihood.
Miller got here to the crease within the twelfth over, and in powerful batting situations early on, underneath overcast skies, he was calm however aggressive early on. He maneuvered the ball into gaps with easy ease and added an important 95 with Heinrich Klaasen for the fifth wicket.
He was significantly extreme on Adam Zampa, who saved bowling crazy leg-breaks to him at a handy tempo. Miller prefers tempo on the ball, however he was conscious that if he didn’t assault Zampa, Australia’s solely frontline spinner, he would in all probability bowl unchanged from one finish with seamers rotating round him. So, he took him on.
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Given the sluggish nature of the pitch, he regarded to play straight most of the time. And there have been no half-hearted massive photographs. One might say that one benefit of coming to bat early was that he acquired the time to get his eye in in opposition to a comparatively onerous ball. “It’s actually nice to get 100, however solely half the sport is finished. We fought on the finish and acquired a good rating,” Miller stated through the innings break.
“We all know the pitch can be slower and it could flip. We have been at all times on the again foot after shedding 4 wickets within the PowerPlay however we managed to salvage one thing on the again finish,” he added.
There was a brief rain break when South Africa was batting, and the pitch did appear to have eased out when play resumed. On condition that this was not the centre wicket, there was a brief boundary on one facet, which additionally helped Miller’s trigger. He additionally ran 31 singles and 4 twos, thus indicating the fixed working of the fielders with supple working between the wickets.
The truth that Miller outscored all his teammates 101 to 100 in the end underlined the bewildering nature of his spellbinding knock.