South Africa Need to Make Strong Statement and Drop David Miller

Mention David Miller’s name to dedicated domestic cricket watchers and they will tell you tales of how he single-handedly won games for his team. From his South African team the Dolphins, to English county side Yorkshire and Indian Premier League team the Kings XI Punjab, Miller has been a star.

His breakthrough season came in 2012. He hit 390 runs at an average of 48.75 for Yorkshire, helping them get to the final of the domestic T20 competition. He was under par in the South African competition with just 131 runs in six matches, but he made up for it in the IPL. He scored 418 runs at an average of 59.71, including an unbeaten 101 for the Kings XI Punjab and his star was well and truly on the rise.

He'd already made his international debut in 2010 but never really got going. A break followed and he was recalled to the T20 in December 2012, but Miller still hasn't lived up to his potential. In 28 matches, his high score is just 36.

For South Africa, Miller is supposed to be “the finisher.” He’s supposed to be the player who comes in lower down the order, with a few overs to spare, who can hit the ball right from the get-go. But that simply hasn’t happened. The position of “finisher” is often contested since it can waste the ability of players like Miller who can flourish when given more time.

He's never batted higher than four but even batting at five (where he has done on eight occasions) his returns have been sparse. He's scored 160 runs there at an average of 26.66. That's worse than him batting at six, where he has batted on 13 occasions and scored 216 runs at an average of 27.00

On Friday, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Miller walked to the crease with South Africa in all sorts of trouble and plenty of time to settle. With South Africa 60-4 and just under eight overs to go, Miller had more time to get in. Instead, he got out with a tame flick to the leg side. His reaction afterwards was one of fury, but he only had himself to blame.

South Africa need to make a tough decision. Either they use Miller better by promoting him up the order more often, or they drop him and end the experiment, which has clearly failed far too many times now. He has floated between batting at five, six and, on occasion, seven in the last eight T20s he has played. While that disruption won’t help him settle, a player of his talent should be able to convert better.

While the inconsistency of the middle order does play a role in how he might bat, that Miller has not had one memorable innings in South African colours is concerning. T20s and ODIs are two very different formats, but Miller's struggles in T20s also extend to the one-day format. With a World Cup just around the corner, South Africa need to plug that inconsistency gap, otherwise it could end up costing them against bigger and better teams. There is still time to prepare for the World Cup and Miller's biggest and possibly final test will come during the five-match ODI series against Australia, which begins next week. 

Maybe, though, it'd be better to drop Miller before that happens and test out some of the alternatives available to them. Who knows, the impact of being dropped might very well be the thing that finally kicks Miller into gear. 

All stats via CricketArchive, unless otherwise stated.