Was under lot more pressure at the back end than at the start: Miller

David Miller walked in when South Africa were in a spot of bother at 12/4 in pursuit of 104 and took his side over the line with an unbeaten 59 off 51 against the Netherlands in New York on June 8 (Saturday). He put on a 65-run stand for the fifth wicket with Tristan Stubbs (33), that eventually proved to be pivotal. However, the Netherlands were relentless with the ball and made life difficult for the Proteas batters.

Miller, who came in to bat during a tricky period, says that he felt more pressure during the latter stages that at the start.

"I was a lot more under pressure at the back end than when I went in for 14/4 [12/4]. But I just think we have got over the line with our tailenders and I kind of had a lot of faith in them, but in your mind, you do have those thoughts that it has been difficult to get boundaries and now we need the boundaries," Miller said at the post-match press conference. 

"So, it's just about managing that space and just really trusting that if the ball is there, you've got another option to really take it down. So fortunately, it came off and I think it's just about being in that positive frame of mind and making sure that you really capitalise if they do give you the ball that goes. So, there were two or three bad balls there that I capitalised on."

Miller, one of the best finishers in the world in T20 cricket, believes that the key is to remain in the present and focus on one ball at a time.  "I think in that situation, the only thing you can control, which I've learnt over the years, is the very next ball. You can quickly fall under a lot of pressure because there's still 90 or 80 to get and we're under pressure. You can't get those in one ball," Miller said.

"So, it's just one ball at a time, I was just trying to concentrate on the things that I could control, my breathing, my body language and facing the next ball. So, it's kind of those key things and then obviously feeding a lot of confidence off your partner as well. 

"Stubbs was phenomenal out there, he always comes with a lot of energy, he's young, he's powerful and I know in our batting line-up, we're boundary strikers. So it was just about managing the singles and getting off strike and rotating the strike and changing the momentum through that."

With the pitches in New York having gotten better in the last couple of matches, will the captains consider changing their approach of winning the toss and batting first here?

"I suppose it's something that we are going to chat about," Miller said.

"We're playing in two days’ time so it's definitely - I mean again we're playing pretty early in the day so if there's anything in the wicket, I mean, you kind of want to take advantage of that but if you end up on this kind of wicket looking to chase 150, it can be 130 it can be a daunting task so definitely something we'll chat about and work out what's best for our team. 

"It's nice to have got two chases, obviously low scores that we needed to get, but being clinical in the end of it. But yeah, it's definitely a little bit different to what we all used to."

South Africa are just one more win from assuring their place in the Super Eights. They could very well seal it against Bangladesh on June 10 (Monday) in New York.

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