Lawrie Miller
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Somerville Martin Miller (March 31, 1923 in New Plymouth
, Taranaki – December 17, 1996 in Wellington
) was a cricket
er who played for Central Districts, Wellington and New Zealand
.
A tall left-handed opening batsman, Miller was a late developer who made his first class
debut at 27 and was in the New Zealand Test
team within three years. But though he played 13 Tests over five years, he made little impact, never passing 50 in an innings, averaging less than 14 runs per innings and, in his first series in South Africa in 1953-54, compiling four successive ducks. His Test career ended after the damp series in England in 1958, when he completed 1,000 runs in first-class matches but again failed in the Tests.
His highest Test score was 47 and, in a low-scoring game against West Indies at Auckland
in 1955-56, New Zealand finally won a Test match after 26 years of trying.
New Plymouth
New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England, from where the first English settlers migrated....
, Taranaki – December 17, 1996 in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
) was a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played for Central Districts, Wellington and New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
.
A tall left-handed opening batsman, Miller was a late developer who made his first class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut at 27 and was in the New Zealand Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
team within three years. But though he played 13 Tests over five years, he made little impact, never passing 50 in an innings, averaging less than 14 runs per innings and, in his first series in South Africa in 1953-54, compiling four successive ducks. His Test career ended after the damp series in England in 1958, when he completed 1,000 runs in first-class matches but again failed in the Tests.
His highest Test score was 47 and, in a low-scoring game against West Indies at Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
in 1955-56, New Zealand finally won a Test match after 26 years of trying.