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Keith Miller was part of the Australian cricket team that toured England in 1953. While Miller was personally successful on tour, Australia lost the Ashes series to England, one Test to nil. ==Early matches== Australia proceeded to the 1953 Ashes tour, travelling to England aboard the ''Orcades'' after leaving Australia in late March.〔 They almost did so with their three main bowlers marooned in an Italian jail.〔Perry, p. 322.〕 During a stopover at Naples on the sea voyage to England, Miller had taken Lindwall and Johnston to watch a rehearsal of ''La Boheme'' at the Teatro di San Carlo. The trio ignored the doorkeeper's attempt to stop them attending what was meant to be a private rehearsal, and proceeded inside to the auditorium. When they attempted to return to the boat, they found that the doorkeeper had locked them inside and called the police.〔 Lindwall broke the door's lock and the pacemen ran back to the dock just before the gangplank was being pulled away. The Australians arrived at Southampton after four weeks at sea.〔 He was embroiled in further controversy when ''Bumper'', a book that he had produced with his ghost-writer Dick Whitington, criticised his captain Hassett as being too cautious.〔Perry, p. 323.〕 The book commented that "Hassett deals, or fails to deal with things as they occur".〔 Early on the tour, the ''Evening News'' ran the headline "Keith Miller Criticises his Captain".〔〔Whitington, pp. 219–221.〕 The poker-faced Hassett kept his cool at a welcome reception hosted by the Journalists' Association, introducing Miller to the guests by saying "There is Keith Miller, whom you all know well. I hear he has written a book. I know nothing about it."〔〔Perry, p. 324.〕 The burden on Miller and Lindwall increased when Johnston broke down in the non-first-class tour game against East Molesey and then returned with diminished powers.〔 Miller scored 33 and bowled five unsuccessful overs as Australia won the tour opener.〔 Johnston had taken the most wickets on the 1948 tour,〔Perry, p. 256.〕 allowing Miller and Lindwall to focus on short, sharp bursts with the new ball against England's leading batsmen.〔Perry, pp. 222–224.〕 Miller had to bowl 28 overs for 56 runs without taking a wicket in the tour's opening first-class fixture against Worcestershire, who made 7/333 declared.〔 He then came to the crease with Australia struggling at 2/28 and proceeded to score an unbeaten 220 in just over six hours as Australia reached 7/542, whereupon the match ended in a draw.〔Perry, p. 327.〕 He featured in a 198-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Graeme Hole, who made 112, taking Australia from the precarious position of 3/28 to 4/226. This was followed by a 171-run partnership for the seventh wicket with fellow all-rounder Ron Archer, who made 108.〔Whitington, p. 221.〕 He was run out for 42 against Leicestershire, featuring in a partnership of 98 with Neil Harvey, who made 202 not out as the Australians amassed 443.〔〔 As the matches against Worcestershire and Leicestershire were played consecutively without a rest day between fixtures, Miller was given a light workload with the ball after his long innings in the former match.〔 He was required only to bowl five wicketless overs in the second innings after the Australians enforced the follow on and completed an innings victory.〔〔Whitington, p. 222.〕 He then scored 159 not out as Australia amassed 6/453 declared before taking 1/21 in a win by an innings and 194 runs against Yorkshire.〔〔 This time the innings was patient, taking 330 minutes, after being dropped in the slips when he was 20. The spectators were unfamiliar with this style of batting from Miller and sardonically slow-handclapped him.〔 He was part of a middle-order fightback for Australia, putting on stands of 143 and 152 with Jim de Courcy (53) and Richie Benaud (97) for the fifth and sixth wickets respectively, after Hassett's men had fallen to 4/149. He also took his first wicket of the tour in the second innings, ending with 1/21 from 14 overs. After batting for much of the first and second day, Miller was rested from his bowling duties during the first innings and was not asked to roll his arm over until the third day, once the other Australian bowlers had done most of the damage after asking the hosts to follow on.〔 At this point, Miller had scored 421 runs in the first seven days of May without being dismissed by a bowler, and the media began to speculate that he could score 1000 runs in one month, something that had been done on a tour only by Bradman.〔〔Perry, p. 328.〕 This was hampered when he was rested from the match against Surrey at The Oval after playing in three consecutive first-class matches. Australia easily won the match by an innings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Keith Miller with the Australian cricket team in England in 1953」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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