Australia's bright old thing sets sights on Ashes tour

Colin Miller couldn't believe it. Here he was in faraway Antigua and four Australian supporters, sporting Funky Miller Fan Club T-shirts, were waving and cheering. Not only did Miller ask the bus driver to stop, he hopped out, shared a beer and had his picture taken with his fans while his Australian team mates enjoyed the moment. It's not often Miller upstages the big names like the Waughs and Warne.

From living out of a suitcase at a Hobart hotel to being a member of today's most illustrious Test team, Colin Miller's cricketing renaissance has been truly extraordinary, especially as he never seriously pursued slow bowling until he was 32. A genuine two-in-one bowler in the mould of a Gary Sobers or Bill Johnston, Miller says his age, 37 this month, is but a number and form and fitness are more important as he seeks to become Australia's first 40-year-old Test cricketer since Bobby Simpson. His status as Australia's number-one finger-spinner was confirmed by his man-of-the-match award in Australia's 13th consecutive Test win in Adelaide in December.

Miller's emergence has been yet another bonus for cricket's new Invincibles as Steve Waugh and his Australians look to continue the longest winning streak in the history of the game during the forthcoming tours of India this month and England in June. Miller says his new-found success with off-spin has seen him totally reassess his career path.

"Had I been bowling only medium pace, I would have probably been retired by now," he said. Simpson was 41 when he last played for Australia and of the surviving players he was the oldest to do so. Before him, spin bowlers Don Blackie and Bert Ironmonger, who have a grandstand named in their honour at St Kilda's Junction Oval, home of Shane Warne, played at the top level well into their 40s and beyond.

"I might be almost 37 but I'm still very fit," Miller said. "I've got the experience of training. I know how to get my body right. As long as my mind is right and my form is there, I'm sure I can play for three or four more years."

Had he realised just how dramatically his life was to change when he first started experimenting with off-breaks, he would have slowed down years ago. In two seasons, Miller lifted his ranking from being a permanent standard player at state level, in Tasmania, to earn his first Test caps at home and abroad. Originally from Melbourne's unfashionable west, he had been a baseball pitcher as a teenager and learned the grips that he has now adapted to cricket. He has smaller hands than most and uses more of their surface area on the ball than most spinners.

He claims his advancements have been mainly in strategy and earning the confidence of his captain, Steve Waugh. "Steve realises that I bowl well to the left-handed batsmen. It was still early in the innings and the ball still had a little bit on it. He asked how I'd feel about bowling spin to the lefties and mediums to the righties. He doesn't try to hide me at any stage - or anyone else in the team for that matter," he says. "When I get picked to play for Australia, he knows I'm going to do the job for him."

There is no more ambitious veteran in world cricket right now, nor one as colourful. He dyed his hair white on his Test debut in Pakistan two years ago, thinking it would probably be his one and only Test match, and turned a startling Federation blue at the recent Sydney Test. His novel way of preparing for the current season was to backpack with his girlfriend Christi halfway around the world after they had won a $30,000 casino jackpot in Melbourne. A thrill-seeker, he patted tigers in captivity in Africa, bungee-jumped, went ostrich riding and swam in the Amazon.

Now his ambitions, after India, are firmly on a maiden Ashes tour as Shane Warne's frontline spinning partner. "It would be the ultimate to be part of the Australian team to England. It's something I dreamed about as a kid. I've played an Ashes series in Australia. Now I'd like to play one in England," he says.

Former Australian spinner Ray Bright, who won 25 Test caps, says Miller has as good a chance as anyone of playing into his 40s, given his natural fitness and his boyish enthusiasm to perfect his new skill. "He's the best off-spinner in the country by a mile," Bright said. "Importantly, he's not playing every week and with the bowlers around him, the pressure is not on him to perform each and every time."

Bright says most spinners are exhausted by their mid-30s, having bowled thousands of overs in the nets and in matches. "Simply they are worn out from bowling. In Col's case he is like an 18 or 20-year-old with a new career in front of him."

As a medium-pace bowler for most of his representative years, Miller did not seriously begin to tailor his off-spin abilities until an injury forced him to shorten his run and experiment with slower deliveries.

From being a fun-loving cricketing journeyman who, most believed, would never play in the big league, Miller's late-developing new potency helped him to earn selection for his first-ever Melbourne Test match at Christmas time, with Warne still on the sidelines nursing a broken finger.

While Miller's off-spin has been the catalyst for his success, he does not intend to ignore his medium-pace swingers which have been so valuable, especially on tour. In Adelaide, where he took 10 wickets in the game, including Brian Lara in both innings, he started bowling seamers from his longer run-up before switching exclusively to spin.

"I'd like to keep it at 50-50 if I can for a while," he says. "I train as a fast bowler. I don't want to let that part slide at all. I want to keep myself tuned to bowling fast." He says his new diet regime and the use of health food supplements have increased muscle tone and helped him to feel fitter than he has for years.

A West Indian top eight which included as many as six left-handers helped to trigger his selection after he had missed the opening two Tests of the Worrell Trophy. Underlining the importance of having a bowler who takes the ball away from the bat, one third of his first 50 Test wickets have been left-handers.