Thread:
Cricket loving PM Robert Menzies kept a photograph of a perfect Miller square drive on his office desk. Ian Wooldridge called Miller “the golden boy” of cricket, leading to the nickname “Nugget”. Cardus referred to him as Australian in excelsis.

born #onthisday 1919

Miller ended with 2958 runs at 36.97 and 170 wickets at 22.97 from 55 Tests. The figures put him at the top of the list of all-rounders when he retired, and has been matched by only the likes of Garry Sobers, Imran Khan and Jacques Kallis since then.

With Ray Lindwall, he formed one of the scariest new ball partnerships. And he is one of the very few in history to bat high in the order while also bowling with the new ball.
West Indian captain John Goddard exclaimed, “Give us Keith Miller and we’ll beat the world.”

And all that was done with charisma and a sense of devilry, his stylish hair casually flicked back as he started to run in to bowl.

“Outstanding as he was at cricket, the game was for him only a part of living life as a man might do,” wrote John Arlott. During Ashes Tests, Denis Compton and he used to paint the town red.