Geoff Miller has been involved in more than 100 international matches spanning four decades, but he was entitled to feel more nervous than usual this morning. The England team taking the field in the Twenty20 international against New Zealand at Eden Park were the first to carry his signature as the national selector.
Miller will bear the brunt of criticism for decisions on players who fail to perform and may soon realise that the opposite does not apply. He is aware that the 2009 Ashes have been targeted as the priority by the ECB, but, first things first, England must rediscover winning ways in New Zealand after successive Test series defeats. He agreed that the post-2005 decline may stem from a belief that beating Australia was the ultimate.
“We had not won the Ashes for nearly 20 years,” he said. “We did not know how to handle what happened next. You should not just win one series, it is the next one and then the one after that.”
An Ashes winner, Miller holds robust views on how the game should be played and has stated that there will be no repeat of the jellybean incident at Trent Bridge last year. “It is a hard game and if you back off there will only be one winner,” he said. “But if there is any incident that brings the game into disrepute, then I will be on to them like a ton of bricks. I would be prepared to say what I think to Peter [Moores, the England head coach].”
Miller will take a firm stand on those who join the “rebel” Indian Cricket League. His view is stronger than the official line that the decisions of Chris Read, Vikram Solanki, Paul Nixon and Darren Maddy will merely be taken into consideration when teams are chosen.
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“I do not think they would be available,” Miller said. “If they choose to sign, then what is the reason? What is wrong with the England team? We have to bear in mind whether picking them is going to be detrimental to what happens in the changing-room. I am big on atmosphere in the changing-room and if that is a problem I will not look at them.”
Miller is to stay on tour until after the third one-day international on Friday week. He will then be replaced by James Whitaker, a part-time selector, who will help to choose the team for the first Test next month with Moores and Michael Vaughan, the captain.
“This is the first tour since my job came into being and I am finding out where I need to be and when,” Miller said. “They will ring me with the team and, if I am not happy, then we will re-debate it. I have the final say, but the captain has to be confident in the ten people who go out there with him.”