Colin Miller      

Full name Colin Reid Miller

Born February 6, 1964, Footscray, Melbourne, Victoria

Current age 45 years 289 days

Major teams Australia, Netherlands, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium, Right-arm offbreak

A consummate cricketing journeyman, Colin Miller made his mark with several teams in Australia, Europe and Asia as a spirited right arm bowler, belligerent lower order batsman, and wholehearted fieldsman. From his cricketing origins in Melbourne's western suburbs until the late 1990s, Miller's career was built on his reputation as a strongly built right arm paceman who could move the ball both ways and who had the capacity to vary his pace cleverly.

In the latter part of his career, however, he made a staggering transformation to his game which saw him rise from being a well-regarded state player to an Australian first-class record breaker and international surprise packet.

Almost unbelievably, Miller's decision in a Hobart club game to revert from bowling pace to off-spin (on account of a niggling ankle injury) and to thereafter mix both styles of bowling was the catalyst for an astonishing succession of events. Among the more notable of these were his haul of 12/119 against South Australia in January 1998 (an all-time record for a Tasmanian bowler in a Sheffield Shield match); his rewriting in 1997-98 of 'Chuck' Fleetwood-Smith's 63-year old record for the highest number of wickets taken in a Shield season; and his stunning emergence in his mid-30s as a tremendously reliable performer for Australia in the international arena. Whilst he surprised some observers by opening the bowling as a paceman and later returning to the crease as an off-spinner who extracted considerable bounce and turn, it must be noted that it would be difficult to identify many first-class bowlers who have struck with anywhere near the same degree of consistency as he did. That he was voted 'Test Player of the Year' for 2000-01 for a team which dominated world cricket tells its own tale about his effectiveness. It's not only for the frequent changes to the colour to his hair since January 2001 that Miller will therefore be renowned.

Miller announced his retirement from first-class cricket in July 2002. He will surely long be remembered as one of the more versatile players ever to represent Australia and one of the country's most amazing first-class success stories. (John Polack, August 2001. Updated July 2002.)

First-class Debut: Victoria v South Australia at Melbourne, 1985/86

Last First-class Match: Victoria v Western Australia at Perth, 2001/02

List A Debut: South Australia v Victoria at Melbourne, 1988/89

Last List A Match: Victoria v Tasmania at Launceston, 2000/01

Test Player of the Year - 2001

Victoria 1985/86 and 2000/01 to 2001/02

South Australia 1988/89 to 1991/92

Tasmania 1992/93 to 1999/00

Netherlands 1998

Oct 23, 2001

Colin Miller - Portrait October 2001

© Getty Images

Oct 14, 2001

Colin Miller - portrait September 2001

© Getty Images

Oct 9, 2001

Shane Lee and Colin Miller unveil the new ING Cup

© Getty Images

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