South Africa’s David Miller has revealed his determination to play Test cricket. A powerful and exciting batsman, the Dolphins left-hander has made a name for himself around the world with a string of impressive displays in one-day and Twenty20 cricket.
Yesterday, he helped get the Dolphins off to a flyer in the Momentum Cup with an unbeaten 76 off 68 balls as they chased down 172 to beat the Highveld Lions by six wickets in Potchefstroom.
It was a particularly impressive innings given the fact that he came to the crease with the score at 25-3 in the 12th over of the chase. But now he wants to transfer that kind of form from white ball to red ball.
Miller has a first-class average of 30.36 from 41 matches, which is lower than his average in the other two forms of the game. He has only scored two hundreds and nine fifties since debuting in 2008.
It will not be easy breaking into the South Africa Test team, as the affable 24-year-old accepts. But there is no doubt he has the ability to do it.
He will need to pile on the runs in the forthcoming Sunfoil Series, which starts shortly after he returns from one-day and Twenty20 international duty in the United Arab Emirates in mid-November.
He told World Cricket Badger: “My goal is to play Test cricket. I want to play Test cricket for many years, and that’s something I really want to work for.
“Unfortunately I didn’t play too much last season in the four-day competition. I really hope it goes well because I’m going to get my head down and work hard for that. I know obviously it will take some time because the Test guys are number one in the world. But if I can put some runs on the board, hopefully a chance will come.
“I think it’s just a mental thing for me. I’ve been a bit in and out of the four-day side, and I haven’t had any momentum. If I can just take that method of scoring runs in the shorter version to the longer version, I don’t see why I can’t do well.”
The Dolphins finished third in last season’s Sunfoil Series. And Miller sees no reason why they can’t challenge for their first outright title this season.
“To be honest, we haven’t done well in the last couple of seasons in the four-day stuff. But last season was the best we’ve done for a while,” added the player who has made himself particularly popular overseas with the fans of Kings XI Punjab and Yorkshire during the last couple of years.
“A couple of the guys put up their hands and did well last season, so I do believe we are turning a corner. It is a process, but we are heading in the right direction.”
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
Latest posts by James Buttler (see all)
- #CWC15: South Africa geared up for tight Sri Lanka contest - March 16, 2015
- #UAE15: Bon voyage Derbyshire as Champions Yorkshire land in Abu Dhabi - March 13, 2015
- Sussex sign Mahela Jayawardene for NatWest T20 Blast - March 13, 2015
