by Arunabha Sengupta
Melbourne, 30 December 1982.
292 to win. Australia 255 for 9 at stumps on the fourth day. Allan Border and Jeff Thomson defiant in their 37-run unbeaten stand.
On the fifth morning 18,000 spectators were allowed in to the stadium free of charge, and they flocked in, although the match was liable to end any moment.
Every run was now cheered, and the bowling was proving increasingly ineffective. Thomson dogged. Border milking the bowling as Bob Willis spread the field back for him.
Finally, at 288 for 9. Australia were just a stroke away from victory. Botham began the 18th over of the morning.
“It’s a low bouncing pitch,” said Geoff Miller stationed at first slip. He suggested to Chris Tavaré, the second slip, that they should move up a couple of yards. They forgot that the second new ball was still hard and shiny, and liable to travel fast.
The first delivery was short and wide outside the off-stump with a bit of away swing. Thomson, who had shown splendid application since the previous evening, was in two minds whether to cart it or steer it.
If he had swung his bat at it with his characteristic spread-eagled legs, he might have got the winning boundary. In the end he edged it.
It flew to Tavaré at second slip at an eminently catchable height. A couple of yards closer, he had minimum time to react. His left hand shot out and parried the ball, it brushed against his body and lobbed up.
Miller, deeper at first slip, saw the ball dipping. He stumbled forward and clutched it as if his life depended on it.
Synchronised groan around the stadium. Australia lost by three runs.
On his first Australian tour, with Brearley’s men, Miller had won a Test at Sydney with 5/44, spinning a two-layered web with John Emburey. 23 wickets in that series at just 15.04, as well as 234 runs. Packer-depleted Australians and all that, but it was quite an achievement —especially given that most finger-spinners have struggled in the southern land.
Before that, at Lahore, he had saved England the blushes with a six-hour vigil ending on 98 not out. The summer before the 1982-83 Australian tour, he had made 98 again, this time against India at Manchester, adding 169 with a belligerent Botham.
1213 runs and 60 wickets for England underlined his very useful role as a off-spinning all-rounder. For Derbyshire he was a major star, with 8000 runs and 600 wickets.
He now has a great time, and makes rather good money, recalling his days as a England cricketer, with more than a few layers of quaint embellishment put in. He is quite a popular after-dinner speaker.
But one wonders whether he holds any moment of his career as dear as that moment, when that ball popped up off a fumbling Tavaré and he moved across to grab it.
Geoff Miller was born on 8 Sep 1952.