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Cape Town – Springbok and Sharks loose forward Keegan Daniel has praised fellow KwaZulu-Natalian David Miller’s “toughness” in being a Twenty20 match-winner at the Wanderers despite having to do so with a nose broken not long earlier.
Miller was struck by Pakistani paceman Umar Gul midway through his game-tilting innings of 39 not out in Tuesday’s Champions League T20 qualifier against Uva Next, but later returned to the crease to take his English franchise, Yorkshire, past the post.
Having interrupted his budding knock on 22, the left-hander returned to blast a further 17 runs off six balls to secure the victory.
An admiring Daniel (@KeeganDaniel) said on Twitter on Wednesday: “@DavidMillerSA12 u biscuit. Broken nose (and) u come in and win the game. #mentaltoughness great stuff.”
Miller’s captain, Andrew Gale, was quoted afterwards as saying: “David has got the x-factor on the field and can take a game away.
“I asked him if he was going to bat again after he got hit and he said ‘absolutely yes’ ... he showed great courage and character.”
Should the county side advance to the main competition, the 23-year-old Miller will not be available again until the semi-finals as he had already committed himself to representing his home outfit, the Dolphins, in four-day Sunfoil Series cricket.
But Miller making a bright start to the Champions League is potentially good news for the Proteas, who probably have some reassessment of team composition to do in the wake of another failed ICC World Twenty20 campaign.
Miller did not make the cut for that event and has been in the international wilderness since last October after representing South Africa in 16 one-day internationals and eight T20 games.
In fairness to the national selectors, he was not quite delivering to expectation before his omission, although his ability to cleanly strike a genuinely “long ball” in the middle order has never been in doubt.
But he has been promisingly rebuilding his reputation at franchise level, including being second-highest runs-scorer in the latest Friends Life T20 campaign in England for his county - 390 runs at a rollicking strike rate of 153.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
Miller was struck by Pakistani paceman Umar Gul midway through his game-tilting innings of 39 not out in Tuesday’s Champions League T20 qualifier against Uva Next, but later returned to the crease to take his English franchise, Yorkshire, past the post.
Having interrupted his budding knock on 22, the left-hander returned to blast a further 17 runs off six balls to secure the victory.
An admiring Daniel (@KeeganDaniel) said on Twitter on Wednesday: “@DavidMillerSA12 u biscuit. Broken nose (and) u come in and win the game. #mentaltoughness great stuff.”
Miller’s captain, Andrew Gale, was quoted afterwards as saying: “David has got the x-factor on the field and can take a game away.
“I asked him if he was going to bat again after he got hit and he said ‘absolutely yes’ ... he showed great courage and character.”
Should the county side advance to the main competition, the 23-year-old Miller will not be available again until the semi-finals as he had already committed himself to representing his home outfit, the Dolphins, in four-day Sunfoil Series cricket.
But Miller making a bright start to the Champions League is potentially good news for the Proteas, who probably have some reassessment of team composition to do in the wake of another failed ICC World Twenty20 campaign.
Miller did not make the cut for that event and has been in the international wilderness since last October after representing South Africa in 16 one-day internationals and eight T20 games.
In fairness to the national selectors, he was not quite delivering to expectation before his omission, although his ability to cleanly strike a genuinely “long ball” in the middle order has never been in doubt.
But he has been promisingly rebuilding his reputation at franchise level, including being second-highest runs-scorer in the latest Friends Life T20 campaign in England for his county - 390 runs at a rollicking strike rate of 153.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
