David Miller (cricketer)

thumb|David Miller David Andrew Miller (born 10 June 1989) is a South African professional cricketer. He currently plays for South African national team in limited overs cricket. He is an aggressive left-handed middle order batsman and an occasional wicket-keeper. Quotes It's a really proud moment. When I look at all those years back when I first started, I never imagined to be playing this amount of games, so it's a special milestone. I suppose, as a cliché, it's just another game, but it's a really cool achievement. Sleep's not that important. At the younger ages, you are kind of working out your game and not really worrying about your body. As the tides turn, you understand your game a lot better, but now you've gotta actually work at your body (laughs). T hose kinds of things have come into my game now where I take my body a little bit more seriously, finding ways to stay fit and flexible and making sure the body's good to stay on the park. That's when I scored that hundred against RCB [in 2013]. That was probably the turning point in my career. I had already played for South Africa but wasn't really in the picture. It brought a lot attention to me at that stage. Through the years, your career goes through ebbs and flows and you constantly keep learning, adapting and trying to get better. For me, it's about rhythm, so if I haven't played cricket or if I'm struggling a bit, I find my rhythm's a little bit out, my tempo's out, so it's not necessarily the bat speed. It's just about getting your timing right: the impact of the ball, hands, body, head, all those kinds of things moving in one direction. At a younger age, I really did work hard at power-hitting, did a lot [of work] with Graham Ford [at Dolphins]. Lance Klusener came in and worked with a lot of us youngsters at that stage. It was really nice to have such an experienced player - someone that's done it at the highest level - to come and give us his knowledge I wouldn't say power-hitting [has been the biggest change]. For me, it's more a mindset [change]. The mindset of cricketers has changed massively, obviously due to T20 and just the skill level of everyone coming through. The youngsters now have the confidence to just play their game freely. That's probably been the big change. Back in the day they always had power-hitters, but [now] it's more a mindset of we all are buying into what we are doing here. It allows players to play a lot more freely. Understanding that failure is a part of the game. Accepting the fact that you are always going to get criticism - whether you do well or bad. So it's just about making sure you stick to your processes and that your journey is very different to a lot of other players. Sometimes following someone [else's] path is not always the right way. It's just about grabbing moments and ideas from certain players and coaches and adapting and adding to your strengths. And probably just understanding what my strengths are. I really think that as you get older, you understand your game a lot better. You think more clearly under pressure. Success in this game is never guaranteed, so you can have all the experience and knowledge, but you still got to produce it, right? So, for me, it's just being a lot clearer in those moments. It gives you a better chance to succeed and I feel like I'm a lot clearer under pressure. Confidence is a big thing and as quickly as you can get confidence, you can also lose it. So that's why I say just sticking to your processes and falling back on what you know has worked, and, really just believing that is the process. Because under pressure you can lose your mind. Your thoughts go everywhere. So it's about really making sure you are disciplined in whatever has worked and trusting and believing that that's the way that has worked in the past, so it's definitely going to continue working in the future. And I suppose tweaking things here and there in the technique every now and again: sometimes I fall over, sometimes I've got to be more still - all these little check points you have to stay in tune with. I felt like I just needed to change a few things. Basically, I was pressing and getting on the front foot a lot and getting stuck between lengths. I found that I lost a lot of power by pressing on my front foot and committing, so I decided to hold my movements as long as possible and play off the back foot as much as I could. I felt it helped me a lot - actually, my power came back, because every time the bowler overpitched the ball and I'm on the back foot, I can always still get forward and pop him over his head for six. But sport is not fair for everyone - there's always a winner and a loser. There's been some brutal situations in the past with many different sports, and I suppose that was just probably one of them as well. I suppose with these kinds of situations, it's about how you get yourself back up eventually and what you learn from it. Sometimes there's not anything you can do differently. It's just they played better cricket on the day, or it was unlucky and the next time that kind of thing goes our way. I'm quite a simple-thinking guy. I don't really want to overthink it. Hopefully I get myself into a position like that again in the future. Frustration, disappointment, failure, all these negative things come into your head. I watch a lot of different sports and they always talk about the moment to win the game. And I suppose that was the moment to win the game. It was just so nice to wake up in the morning and go make a coffee, open my own fridge. These are simple things, but as a player travelling around [the world], you kind of miss these things" David Miller: 'As you get older, you understand your game a lot better. You think more clearly under pressure', September 2024,The Cricket Monthly by Nagraj Gollapudi External Links David Miller (South African cricketer) Category:1989 births Category:Cricketers from South Africa Category:Living people