caption serviceyears laterwork branch death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit battles birth_date placeofburial nickname rank article_title name
keith miller 1940 & ndash ; 1946 test cricketer for australia citizens to royal air force -rrb- military force royal australian air force -lrb- seconded 11 october 2004 mornington , victoria , australia sunshine , victoria , australia australia commonwealth of australia uk united kingdom no. 169 squadron raf second world war 28 november 1919 mornington , victoria , australia dusty , nugget flying officer military career of keith miller
 keith miller
military career of keith miller

the military career of keith miller , an australian test cricketer and australian rules footballer , lasted from august 1940 until june 1946 , when world war ii interrupted his sporting career .
miller enlisted in the militia , before switching to the royal australian air force , where he served from november 1941 until 1946 when he was discharged with the rank of flying officer .
miller trained as a fighter pilot , and in the last month of the european theatre of war , he flew combat missions over german installations .
however , miller was more notable for his efforts as a cricketer , representing the royal australian air force cricket team and after ve day , the australian services in the victory tests of 1945 , followed by a tour of the indian subcontinent and australia before being demobilised .
while serving in the militia , miller continued playing football for st kilda saints and interstate cricket for victoria when he was off duty .
miller struggled to conform to military norms and was soon fined for `` using insulting language towards a superior officer '' .
in late 1941 , he left the militia and was accepted into the royal australian navy , but tore up his form because his friend was rejected , before enlisting in the raaf .
after his initial training in 1942 , he earned his wings and was deployed to the united kingdom in early 1943 where he continued his training with the no. 169 squadron raf .
miller survived a few disciplinary incidents while training to eventually take part in combat operations in the closing stages of the european theatre of the war , and had several narrow escapes from death throughout his combat and training period .
he received several campaign medals for his service .
away from battle , from 1943 onwards , miller was selected to represent the raaf in a series of matches against the royal air force and other english teams .
the objective of the matches was to show that the british commonwealth would not be cowed by german attacks , and the team was officially designated as a military unit .
in 1945 , following the nazi surrender , the raaf team merged with members of the australian imperial force team to become the australian services , involving army and air force personnel , and competed against england in the five victory tests .
following the end-of-war tour of england , the services team toured the indian subcontinent before returning to australia and playing in the 1945 -- 46 season against the australian states before being demobilised .
miller was the vice-captain of the team on the return leg of the tour to australia .
miller was australia 's top-scorer during the victory tests and came to the fore with his fast bowling .
miller was acclaimed for his free-spirited and adventurous batting , which he attributed to the triviality of sport in comparison to war .
this was particularly exhibited in his 185 from 165 minutes for dominions against england .
it was through his involvement in wartime cricket that miller met many of his future international colleagues , such as england 's denis compton , bill edrich and len hutton .
