Comments on: The glorious but sad story of Keith Miller

By: jackson

jackson — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:36:32 +0000

making racist comments and cheating on your wife are two different things
racism affects the whole of society
cheating is a matter for the couple concerned, it’s no-one else’s business
Warney can do whatever he wants in his sex life, as long as he doesn’t commit a crime it’s his business
if you want adultery to be a crime, move to a theocracy

By: Klinger

Klinger — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:11:43 +0000

Great article Spiro. Not quite sure of the inference that Miller’s wartime experience excuses his subsequent behavior. Many others were in the same boat. I think it was Ritchie Benaud who said of Keith Miller that one of his attributes was that he looked up to no-one, but looked down on no-one either. Might just be able to say the same of SKW.

By: Ronnie the Eel

Ronnie the Eel — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:32:30 +0000

hear hear, sort of Untimelyzapped. We must remember that all great sportsmen though, are human, just like us. Some people seem to think they are gods, and not have the manifest emotions and/or lack of control that the ‘general’ folk in society do. So what if Warney sends 100o’s of texts to women and Andy Johns makes a ‘racist’ comment? We love them because they are some of the greatest sportmen of our era.

If it were only ‘gentlemen’ that were allowed to play top-class sport these days who wouldnt be liable to human whims, mistakes, or crass behaviour at some point, we would have Rev. John Renaud from the Beaudesert Baptist Church opening the batting for Australia, and the media wouldn’t have much to write about as I know for a fact he can’t bat…hhahaha.

By: matthew

matthew — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:06:38 +0000

A privelege to read Spiro’s articles. As always. Great sportswriter.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:47:59 +0000

Funny he should say that about pressure in a game because Ashley mallett reckons that Miller used to thow up before he batted

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-HnJQ16XracC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=mallett+keith+miller&source=bl&ots=g-6mOHyApW&sig=Z2BnE4YZHspyAbpUjzEPTdmWsuw&hl=en&ei=qI-CSvyMKtOJkQXC8YzPCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=mallett%20keith%20miller&f=false

By: Ziggy

Ziggy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:23:14 +0000

As a boy growing up on the veldt in South Africa I had two sporting heros and one of them was Keith Miller. An extraordinary man of immense talents. He could have been anything he wished to be.

‘His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, ‘This was a man!’

By: Ziggy

Ziggy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:19:05 +0000

Much appreciated comments on Warne. I can’t disclose my sources, but everything you have pointed out re Warne is true.
Much respected by all cricketers around the world as a player and a man.

By: JohnB

JohnB — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:54:05 +0000

Westy, there’s a great version of that story about Miller turning up to play still in his dinner jacket (I think he would have worn a dinner jacket, not a tuxedo) in a Gideon Haigh book, Australian Cricket Anecdotes (I think). As Gideon tells it, he played in his white dress shirt, not having enough time to change that. After saying “spread out”, he (as always) said something like “right, who here bowls? Pat (Crawford), you bowl a bit, you have a go”. After that over “who wants a bowl now? Davo? How about you? No hang on a bit, I might roll my arm over”. And takes 5 for next to nothing. Haven’t read the story for a while so the exact details are probably wrong, but that’s the flavour of it. Nice story (regardless of how accurate it may be) and captures my impression of Miller from reading about him. Mind you, ask Andrew Symonds how that sort of carry on goes over nowadays.

On Miller/Warne and their relative levels of charm etc, I have been told that Warne when playing Shield cricket was always very courteous with the staff at the grounds, for example making a point of going and saying thank you to the dining room staff. As a result he was extremely well liked by those “little” people. As I say, that’s second hand and thus may be inaccurate. If true thought, I do think you get bonus points for getting at least some of your out of the public eye behaviour right.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:52:12 +0000

I hope this article is not saying that miller was better person than Warne because he liked opera and Warne likes ham and pineapple pizzas.

By: Rowdy

Rowdy — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:22:20 +0000

An absolute hero of mine. I’d have Nugget, Compton and Sobers as the first names on my all-time XI as players able to play at the highest level without ever taking themselves, or the game, too seriously.

By: Bruce Walkley

Bruce Walkley — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:36:59 +0000

I was lucky enough to see Miller play for an Australian XI against a touring team at the NTCA Ground in Launceston in the late 1950s. He hit – no, stroked; it was so delightfully elegant – a six over the poplar trees at midwicket and smashed the windscreen of a car in the carpark outside. I think the best descriptions of him came from John Arlott, who wrote how he took his bat out of the way of the first ball he faced and went back to the pavilion, where he might find a challenge, during the Australians’ walloping of 721 in a day against Essex in 1948, and Neville Cardus, in an article reprinted in his compendium Cardus in the Covers. Cardus wrote: “I could have sworn that he was a ‘Sydney-sider’, born near Randwick’s racecourse. As a fact, he first saw the light of day in Melbourne, and so I suppose we must call him a Victorian. But he came in good time to live in Sydney, where Bondi beach, Dee Why, Elizabeth Street and – of course – Randwick, acclimatised him, expelled all decorum and released any inhibitions acquired while dwelling in the elegant ciity of the Yarra.” Cardus also recalled Miller visiting his flat in Kings Cross and insisting on hearing classical piano concertos on the gramophone. Truly a one-off, they broke the mould.

By: Ian Noble

Ian Noble — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:35:13 +0000

Spiro

I can just recall seeing Keith Miller playing on a black and white TV screen when I was very young. What a fabulous bowling action.

However my uncle who has been a member of the MCC since 1952 is always recalling the great days of Miller, Bedser and Compton. In particular it appears Miller had a great friendship with Compton and they would get up to all kinds of mischief. Stories of them partying together, gambling and drinking all night and yet arriving at Lords in their dinner jackets ready to play a blinder seem to be commonplace. How much credence one puts on these stories I don’t know, but I am sure they have been embellished over time.

In today’s world he would not have got away with it, although both Warne and Flintoff would probably be close. You probably are not aware of the Freddilo incident in the Windies, where Freddie a little worse for wear after a “quiet celebration” tried to set sail in the early morning from a beach on one of the pedalos only to be rescued by the local coastguard. Front page headlines in the UK, ECB not happy etc., Freddie is off the booze at the moment. How would Miller and Compton coped today, of course I don’t know, but as personalities and great cricketers they would be up there in the earnings and would set the world alight in the shorter forms of the game.

Westy my uncle always reminds me of the Messerschmitt story as the present day batter goes out padded and helmeted to face the onslaught. “In my day” of uncovered pitches having to face Trueman, Tyson etc. surprising nobody was killed!!

I hope we have the chance to see this TV programme in England as a Michael Parkinson presentation always brings a light touch to the subject with humour and reverence at the same time.

By: Midfielder

Midfielder — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:36:25 +0000

Westy

My Dad a returned serviceman and he loved his cricket .. rated Miller as the best player he ever saw .. but more when he was on the field he had an air about him that my Dad says no other sportsman in his lifetime brought…

By: westy

westy — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:18:18 +0000

One thing you forget is his years of service as a fighter pilot in WW2 and then back to civilian life. Always remember his classic response to did he ever feel pressure in a cricket game ? Pressure is having ” a Messerschmidt up your arse 3000 feet in the air”. Miller was not just some hero of sport but of war. I think only those who have exposure to those pressures can truly understand.
Turning up to in the morning SCG in his tux from a good night out to open the bowling with only a low score to defend. The team asked for fieldind positions he said ” just spread out ” they did and he did the rest.
Those wartime years took some toll …he could not quite bring himself to bowl full pace against the brave Edrich…….I remember his comment ‘ they play the game bravely some of them could do with a good meal’ it was in this context he infamously threw the ball back to Bradman and said ” Bowl yourself”
He chased life too hard after the war and to understand his strengths and weaknesses the war took its toll on him. He was always a little different around his wartime comrades .

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:39:37 +0000

From hjis wiki page

“The media stridently criticised Miller’s omission,[325] as did former players such as Stan McCabe and Alan Kippax.[326] During the off season, he worked as a journalist and played baseball,[327] but declined a trial with a Major League Baseball club, the Boston Red Sox.[328] ”

It would have been way cooler if he saw the light and played for the Red Sox – sticking it to the selectors for dropping him from the South Africa tour once and for all

By: Albert Ross

Albert Ross — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:12:35 +0000

>> I don’t think the boys blamed their father for their drug problem,

They didn’t- to their great credit. However t least one suggested that their father had been less than honest in his dealings with them.

I just don’t see how he can be described as a great man. Brave in the face of the enemy – yes. Wonderful cricketer – certainly. Great man – hmmmm…

By: Megan

Megan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:50:14 +0000

I don’t think the boys blamed their father for their drug problem, so I don’t think you ought to either, although having three in the family was a bit much. His wartime experiences were definitely life and behaviour defining, but perhaps became a little habit forming themselves. fancy playing against the great man, what an experience.

By: Jaffa

Jaffa — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:59:59 +0000

correction : par 3 should say: …….a far better father to his children THAN Miller ever was………

By: Jaffa

Jaffa — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:57:44 +0000

Spiro – a wonderful reflective affectionate piece about my favourite cricketer ever.
I am inclined, though, to take a more generous view of Shane Warne and his status in world cricket. It seems to me that he never gave anything less than his considerable best while actually playing,and that he was and is liked and respected by his peers-always a good indication of a player’s standing in the game. His problems all occurred off the field, and usually in the bedroom. He is not the first prominent Australian sportsman to have this deficiency of character, but modern telecommunications technology and his own complete lack of discretion have brought him undone. Miller’s reputation would never have stood similar scrutiny.
His performance as a husband may have been patchy, but Warnie is a far better father to his children the Miller ever was, more’s the pity.
I never met Miller, but I have a friend who assisted at his hip replacements, which were done at Hornsby Hospital. He received an autographed copy of the great man’s autobiography as a gesture of appreciation. My friend naturally treasures both the gift, and the memory of his brief acquaintance with Australia’s greatest ever cricketer.

By: Bob McGregor

Bob McGregor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:02:12 +0000

Great article Spiro – beautifully written.

Saw most of the Australian story and was surprised by what happened to his wife and children and how he neglected them. Sad really as another one of my heroes was found to have feet of clay in the family domain.
He abrogated his parental responsibility and I felt for the 4 sons who deserved better from one with such a background. Lord knows how this limited his children’s potential in life. Yet they took the punches and were there for him until the end. Perhaps wife Peggy and the 4 sons are the real heroes.
Has taught me to savour the sporting moments and not let them colour the life outside sport as human frailties are everywhere.

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:14:47 +0000

Spiro, as an Australian domiciled in NZ, I especially must thank you for this article, as I will not get a chance to see the shows on Miller.

Just one thing though. I don’t like to take issue with you, but I suspect that enquiries amongst a younger generation would reveal that you are incorrect in writing that “Miller was a far more likeable … rogue than Warne. Miller was a charming man. This is a description that can never be applied to Warne.”

However repulsive Warne’s antics may look to older people (I wonder how Keith Miller would have looked to you if you were many years older than him?), my understanding is that Warne has always been exceptionally popular with his fellow players. It’s true that by late in his career people like Ponting and Gilchrist became fed up with the constant scandal around him, but that doesn’t change that he was always one of the most popular players in dressing rooms.

Peter Roebuck once pointed out the oddity of Jonty Rhodes calling Shane Warne a good friend, and that one had to take notice of this. In New Zealand it is widely known that Stephen Fleming is a good friend of Warne’s. These are cricketers of genuine substance who would not tolerate a fraud. Similarly Ian Chappell, with whom Warne has a close relationship.

When the Australian cricketers were close to going on strike in 1996-7, Shane Warne went to the ACB (as it was then known) and said that he would take a paycut if this would help to fund better payments for rank and file first-class cricketers in Australia. His colleagues never forgot this, and the fact that he had it in him to make an offer like this shows why he was popular.

It was also evident throughout Warne’s career that he was a cricketer’s cricketer, i.e., he always played for his team, not for himself. Again, this engenders popularity and respect.

Through the IPL Warne has become mates even with Graeme Smith, subsequent to which the South African captain has become a far more endearing figure to cricket fans around the world. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

By: Untimelyzapped

Untimelyzapped — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:05:57 +0000

What is this forum coming to? There’s a quote from Burns and Thackeray, and also a mention of Lytton Strachey. It’s starting to sound more like Transition or the Paris Review than a sports blog. Please, all you intellectuals, we’re just simple rugby folk who have to take off our shoes to count to eleven. We much prefer Banjo to Burns, our favourite movie is Rocky, our favourite painting is that one of the crying clown done on velvet, and we’ll take a double cheesburger over rognons de veau au sauce madere any day of the week. And we hate polysyllables, obscure symbology, and any mention of Jean-Paul Sartre who was a much better flanker than Jean-Pierre Rives anyway.

By: Judith Hutchison

Judith Hutchison — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:37:42 +0000

Hi,
Like many others Keith Miller had a special place in our life in that he and my father where best mates from Melbourne High days and it was of considerable delight to see the program and to read your article, Spiro.
Keith regularly visited our farm in the Riverina and played tenis – where our chook house now stands!
My father died in 1960 at the age of 39 years and it was of considerable surprise to see his photo with Keith and a young boy at Melbourne High being used not only in the Herald Sun, Roland Perry’s book – ‘Millers Luck’ and in both of the TV series. For us it raises many questions, why that photo. My fathers love of Keith was infectious and Keith’s loyalty to the family was incredible.
Keith even while in the nursing home, would contact my aunt(dad’s sister) every couple of months right up until he died.
Its of considerable regret that I did not make the effort to meet up with him in his latter year, however despite the sad ending to this mans life, he had many many wonderful atributes and loyalty was one – altho like others I struggle with what he did to Peg. Thanks

By: Hatchet

Hatchet — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:20:10 +0000

Spiro,
I watched enthralled. Miller was a true giant of the game. He had a darker side and who is to say if his experiences in the war did not accentuate this dark side or create this dark side.
I was impressed by the raw honesty of Ian Chappell. He always seems to be an honest and forthright person who is not always displayed as such by the media. Parky, he will always be Parky. I miss his sporting column that was so enjoyable before he succumbed to mamon and TV. S K Warne not educated? Is that a result of circumstance? Not as charming as K W Miller? Perhaps Keith’s legendary charm might not have been in such abundance had he been subjected to the media scrutiny that Warne is. Shane Warne has been quite ‘charming’ in helping kids and other aspiring cricketers, is his lack of charm with you an outcome of you being a member of the fourth estate? I thought that you had a cheap shot at Warne. It was quite gratuitous and added nothing to an otherwise quite readable article.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:50:17 +0000

Spiro, What an awesome article. I even got tingles. Top stuff.
KM was well before my time but i enjoyed reading this tribute. Thanks

By: Albert Ross

Albert Ross — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:21:15 +0000

the gentlemen he was

Thackeray defined a “gentleman” thus:
What is it to be a gentleman? Is it to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most graceful outward manner? Ought a gentleman to be a loyal son, a true husband, an honest father? Ought his life to be decent, his bills to be paid, his taste to be high and elegant, his aims in life lofty and noble?

By that standard Miller was not a gentleman in most respects. The Irish have a apposite word for it however: “chancer”

By: Southernwaratah

Southernwaratah — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:49:33 +0000

Great Article Spiro, I too watched both episodes of the tribute and loved the insight into his life, I’d only every heard whispers from commentators and my grandfather as to his brilliance with the bat and ball so I watched with interest to learn of his life both on the field and off. My flat mate, (Madame. M) walked into the room to see the last 10 mins of the story which was of his last few years. Divorce (Betrayal?), fall out with his sons and death. As the vision of his funeral hit the screen and the newspaper front page proclaiming him as a legend, Madame M asked why he would be proclaimed a legend when he had been a cheating unfaithful husband. I tried to defend him for his input as a war hero, cricketing legend and the fact that he had been recognised with a MBE and AM.

Spiro you raise the point that Keith was not too dissimilar to S.K.Warne but lived in an era where the media didn’t loath his antics but loved them given his stature in society. So it is that his actions were deemed acceptable because of the company he kept or the gentlemen he was or the royalty he had as friends? I’m confused with this one and not to sure how to explain it to Madame M.

For me Keith Miller will be forever a legend given his cricketing ability which I’m in awe of.

By: Albert Ross

Albert Ross — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:26:18 +0000

Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that:
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,

By: Gladstone

Gladstone — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:43:55 +0000

Spiro – re that Lytton Strachey contest, I’ve been trying to win it for years.

By: Gladstone

Gladstone — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:40:48 +0000

A fine post, Spiro – warm, elegiac, and on the good side of sentimental. One tries constantly to separate the artist from the person, but too many sportspeople and entertainers ultimately let us down.

As to the cricket side of KM, Wally Hammond famously said to Bradman, “Give us Miller, and we’ll beat you.” And Cyril Washbrook famously moaned, “We struggle to survive an over from Lindwall, then we have to survive Miller coming the other way.”

BTW, Miller and Lindwall once batted together at a charity thing at Waverly Oval featuring soft bowling and big hitting. Miller hit them over the fence, but Ray Lindwall, one of the biggest hitting bowlers ever, belted them into Bondi Road.

Incidentally, your combo of swashbuckling, volcanic, elegant and reckless qualifies you for enrty in the Lytton Strachey contest.