Keith Miller Died Today  

11th October 2004

Keith Miller died today, and rarely among my sports heroes, I felt as if I'd lost a personal friend, even though I never met him and never saw him play. The nineteen sixty Australians were the first tourists I saw, Keith's last tour was in 1956. Coming so soon after the loss of Cloughie too, the world will be a poorer place without them both.

Keith Miller was the Ian Botham or Freddie Flintoff of his day. As a kid he was sports mad and wanted to be a jockey but between sixteen and eighteen he shot up into a fine figure of a man and all thoughts of riding horses were abandoned. But he never lost his love for the turf where he was often to be seen. At Ascot or Melbourne it was all the same to Keith, with a girl on his arm, more often than not sharing a joke with his great pal Dennis Compton.

Reading the history books one particular stroke seemed to catapult him into the national consciousness. It was 1945, the war barely over, he was playing at Lords and smote W E Hollies a mighty blow that crashed onto the balcony above the English dressing room, a hit that was only just short of Albert Trott's mighty blow that cleared the Lord's Pavilion, the only person who has ever achieved that feat. Perhaps big Freddie might have a go at that one before he is done.

When Keith came off the field a reporter asked him how he coped with the pressure of standing up to fast bowlers. No helmets in those days of course. He smiled and replied, "Pressure is a Messerschmidt up your arse!  Playing cricket is not!" Priceless. Keith had indeed flown Mosquitos in the war for the RAAF and on one occasion  was forced to crash land in Norfolk, injuring his back in the process. It didn't seem to hinder him too much.

Keith Miller could bowl quicker bouncers than Ray Lindwall and sometimes off just four paces. At the age of 36 he came back in 1956 and was still hostile enough to take ten wickets in a test at Lords, only the second Australian to do so at that time.

Keith never captained Australia and that was surely their loss, as Richie Benaud said,  he was the best captain he ever played under, and that will do for me.  Keith was a true and staunch friend of this country, coming back at every opportunity, for the cricket, the racing, Wimbledon and to see his pals of which there were legions.

And now he has gone, and all we have left is those memories, and fading black and white photographs of that muscular charismatic man with flowing dark hair and all smiles as he joked with the close fielders. I have a picture in my mind of Keith and Dennis standing at the bar, drinks in hand, planning out the evening, and the play for the following day. A mischievous grin, a drink for everyone present, and the priceless gift of making everyone there feel good about themselves. 

Farewell Keith Miller, mighty man of the cricket field, and so much more, the world is poorer for your passing.

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England finally won the Ashes when the fifth and final Test match was drawn at the Oval cricket ground in London before a packed and delirious crowd. Outside the ground spectators hung precariously to rooftops and watched from tower blocks some way off through binoculars, any vantage point to take a peek at what would be a historic day.

And yet it could once again have been so different as the Australians came out breathing fire and brimstone on the final morning, skittling the English batsmen out in the early session. And when England’s talisman Freddie Flintoff was out for just eight, a win for Australia was very much on the cards.

But Kevin Pietersen steadied the ship with a record-breaking innings of 158, he passed Ian Botham’s record of the highest number of sixes against Australia and also finished as the highest scoring batsmen in this close fought series. Shane Warne finished top wicket taker with 40 wickets in the series, and received a huge ovation from the knowledgeable crowd, many of the English players among them.

In a match plagued by rain and bad light delays it was clear that the draw was always going to be the favourite result, and so it turned out, as Australia struggled to bowl out England a second time. The final series result of two to one to England with two drawn was just about the right result with even many Australians agreeing that the home side just about deserved to take the trophy.

But after such a thrilling and hard fought series Cricket is the undoubted winner. Cricket bat sales have reached record levels and cricket can be seen played on public parks all over the land, parks and public land where cricket has not been seen played for many years. The series was shown in dozens of new countries throughout the world bringing a whole new audience to the game.

And while all five games have been fought to the death in a never to be forgotten style, the sportsmanship shown by both sides throughout the summer has been immense. Huge credit is due to the Australian players who played the game with a dignity and style that is unfortunately a rare event on the modern day sports field.

No one who witnessed any of the matches will ever forget them, and now England have just 14 months to dwell on their victory before they travel to Australia to commence the battle all over again in Brisbane in 2006. Tickets will be on sale soon and they will be snapped up.

The England supporters, the self styled Barmy Army, will travel down under in record numbers to support their side, and with the average age of the England side being well below that of the Australians, the current England side still have improvement in them. It will be interesting to see if Australia can and indeed do decide to replace some of their aging stars with younger players of an equal calibre.

In the meantime England head off to the sub continent for what are bound to be closely fought matches against India and Pakistan this winter. But that is for the future, for now England is basking in the glow of taking back the Ashes after almost twenty years, and the country has gone cricket mad after the biggest sporting occasion seen in England since the football World Cup win of 1966. And the public have been desperate to back their team with hard cash too. Over £38 million was matched on this game with Betfair alone. You can still have a free $30 bet with Betfair.com by entering the promotional code 6CHE3VPWJ when prompted.

So it’s farewell to the great Australian bowlers Glen McGrath and Shane Warne who will not play Test cricket in England again, but neither of them rule out playing in the return series at the end of 2006, and as long as their bodies hold up, the English expect to see these old foes facing them again next year.

Your correspondent has been watching cricket for nearly 50 years and this has unquestionably been the greatest series of all, but don’t take my word for it, Richie Benaud the former Australian captain and worldwide commentator for the last forty two years retired in England on the final afternoon of this match and he said exactly the same thing. He intends to continue commentating in Australia. It has been wonderful listening to you Richie, have a long and happy retirement with your lovely wife.

So England have the Ashes, did I mention that? Perhaps it’s because I still can’t quite believe it. If you’d like to know more about cricket please take a look at the Cricinfo site. www.cricinfo.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Carter  Click here for more similar articles.

Betting Exchanges Go From Strength to Strength

There seems no stopping the exponential growth of betting exchanges. This British phenomenon only began life in the late nineties but is already a worldwide industry. In the beginning there were two betting exchanges, Flutter.com and Betfair.com, but both initially struggled for liquidity and to make any profit.

But when the two merged, Betfair in effect taking over Flutter.com, almost overnight the business became a sensation. The service works by matching two bettors who want to take an opposite position on the same sporting event. Traditionally both those bettors would have had to visit a high street bookmaker and would have been at their mercy with regard to the price they could get, the amount of stake they could put on, not to mention the fact that if they were a regular winner, they were likely to have their account suddenly terminated.

All that changed with the advent of betting exchanges as now they could now ask for any price they liked. That is not to say they would get it of course, but typically, betting exchange prices can be 20% better than traditional bookmakers. You could also put on as much stake as you liked, subject to liquidity, which is now phenomenal on all the major sporting events. £26 million pounds was recently matched on one cricket match alone. Baseball, American Football, Basketball, and Soccer all attract vast interest worldwide.

Of course the big bookies hated the exchanges from the outset, and have tried desperately hard since their inception to have them closed down, but thankfully to date they have been thwarted. Now many bookmakers actively use the exchanges to hedge their own open positions, and it now seems incomprehensible that sports traders could ever see a time where betting exchanges were closed down.

Betfair.com is now the worldwide market leader and is planning a billion pound stock market flotation. Based in Ireland Betdaq.com also does increasing business. But the betting exchange industry suffered a serious blow to their credibility last year when another exchange, Sporting Options, suddenly closed down. Betfair, anxious to maintain the credibility of the entire industry, took over all the Sporting Options accounts and voluntarily reimbursed a large portion of all its client losses, an act that many sports traders were extremely grateful for.

Today you can trade on just about anything, and not just sports events. Political results, stock market changes, house prices, Christmas number one records and a whole host of special markets and events are all put up for their clients to consider. And what is the difference in trading the Dow Jones price on a betting exchange, to trading it on the London or New York Stock Exchanges? Very little in my view, except that in Britain at least, profits made via betting exchanges are still absolutely tax free. This is an advantage that has not escaped the smart money and now many big operators run active accounts via the betting exchanges. Rumour has it that the Government is looking hard at ways and means to tax the increasing number of stay at home traders who now operate full time professionally round the clock on the betting exchanges.

I myself have had an account with Betfair since 2001. I trade every day, though only in a small way. I make regular cash withdrawals and I have never put any additional cash into my account since then, and that should tell you something. I am no tipster. I look for value.

If you are considering operating on betting exchanges, always concentrate on seeking out value. If traditional bookmakers are offering say 20/1 on a team or player to win a certain event, and you can see that you can obtain 40/1 on the exchanges, you know you are aleady half way to buying value. The chances are you will be able to sell that same bet to someone else for lesser odds, thus locking yourself in a guaranteed profit, or at worst definitely no loss, regardless of whether that team wins or loses. I backed Saudi Arabia to win the soccer World Cup in 2002, something that is about as likely as Mars being made of red Leicester cheese, but I made a profit on that interest, simply by selling the position to someone else at lesser odds than I bought at.

Always concentrate on seeking out value. Never put at risk more than you can afford to lose, and don’t pay any attention to the big mouths and self appointed experts on the forums who will bellow that they have a certain winner. The probably don’t! You can still get a free $30 bet on Betfair.com when you open an account providing you type in the promotional code 6CHE3VPWJ when prompted. But don’t forget to note the code, or you won’t get your free money.

Operate in a small way to begin with, paper trade for weeks if you prefer. Positions can be opened for just two pounds. Never take unnecessary risks, that is what betting exchanges are all about, eliminating risk wherever you find it, and you will have great fun, and who knows? Perhaps you will find a nice little second income. Good luck.