ODI World Cup: Rescue-man Miller pulls South Africa out of the rubbles

In the 2019 World Cup, the place South Africa was eradicated after profitable solely one among its first seven video games, David Miller eked out solely 136 runs in 4 innings at a strike fee of 86.

Four 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 best 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 robust batting circumstances early on, beneath overcast skies, he was calm however aggressive early on. He maneuvered the ball into gaps with easy ease and added a vital 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 most likely bowl unchanged from one finish with seamers rotating round him. So, he took him on. 

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Given the gradual nature of the pitch, he regarded to play straight as a rule. And there have been no half-hearted huge pictures. One might say that one benefit of coming to bat early was that he bought the time to get his eye in in opposition to a comparatively onerous ball. “It’s really great to get a hundred, but only half the game is done. We fought at the end and got a decent score,” Miller mentioned through the innings break. 

“We know the pitch would be slower and it would turn. We were always on the back foot after losing four wickets in the PowerPlay but we managed to salvage something at the back end,” 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. Given 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 operating between the wickets.

The undeniable fact that Miller outscored all his teammates 101 to 100 finally underlined the bewildering nature of his spellbinding knock.