Early Life of Keith Miller - Early Schooling

Early Schooling

Sunshine offered open fields, and the three Miller boys quickly took a liking to sport during their childhood, playing Australian rules football in winter and cricket in summer. Their father had played cricket for Warracknabeal, winning a premiership in the local league in 1900. Les taught the boys to play with a side-on stance and underlined the importance of orthodox batting technique, reminding his sons to maintain a high leading elbow when hitting the ball. They were taught to rely on a solid defence, concentration, and self-control in the mould of the leading Victorian and Australian Test batsman of the era, Bill Ponsford. Miller began his schooling in Sunshine, where he quickly became known for his diminutive height; he was one of the smallest children in the school. At the age of seven, Miller moved to the inner-eastern middle-class Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick, where his parents had purchased a two-storey house with a spacious garden that allowed the children to play sport. By this time, his elder brothers had given him the derisive nickname Weedy. Miller's small size and age deficit meant that he conceded a strength advantage to his brothers in backyard cricket matches. This forced him to develop his technique rather than rely on power, which held him in good stead for his future career. Whenever Miller managed to dismiss his brothers and earn himself some batting time, he typically played with a straight bat in a watchful manner, as it was difficult for him to remove his brothers, meaning that his opportunities with the bat were rare. Miller and his friends would loiter outside Ponsford's home, just 400 m (440 yd) away, in the hope of catching a glimpse of their hero. Like Miller in his backyard, Ponsford was known for his powers of concentration and was the first person to score two quadruple centuries in first-class cricket. Miller often practised for hours by himself; he put a tennis ball inside a stocking, before suspending it from a clothes line and hitting it back and forth. Indoors, Miller developed a lifelong love of classical music through a cousin who liked to play Mozart. He played flute in the Elsternwick school band but could not read music.

As a small child, Miller's major sporting aspiration was to be a jockey, but he continued to play cricket and Australian football. At the age of 12, he played for an under-15 Victorian schoolboys cricket team that toured Queensland under the captaincy of future Test batsman Merv Harvey. At the time, Miller stood only 150 cm (4 ft 11 in) and wielded a sawn-off bat. His shots did not travel far, but he impressed observers with the manner in which he moved his feet and stroked the ball. Miller's small stature in a contact sport such as football forced him to rely on physical courage, something for which he became famed. However, his lack of height prompted him to turn to horseracing. Miller saw his first Melbourne Cup in 1926 at the age of seven and had been fascinated ever since. Caulfield Racecourse was only a short distance from the family home, and Miller spent many early mornings watching the trainers and jockeys go through their routines. He eventually persuaded his father to let him take horseriding lessons. Aside from being attracted to the racing culture, Miller felt that as he appeared destined to be a small person, he was more likely to have a successful career as a jockey than in cricket or football.