Sometimes, you have to make the most of the cards that you are dealt and turn the odds in your favour.

That applied perfectly to Proteas batsman, David Miller who went all-in on a glorious batting deck at Senwes Park where he smashed the world record for the fastest international T20 century from 35 balls against Bangladesh on Sunday, 29 October. His innings (101* from 36 balls) was the catalyst for a comprehensive 83-run win for the Proteas in the second T20 International as South Africa claimed a 2–0 series win.

  Miller’s innings was never plain-sailing as he was dropped on 0 by the wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim and could have been caught on 14 when the ball, fortunately, dropped in no man’s land. Eventually, the left-hander started dishing up aces in the form of massive sixes and powerful fours at an unstoppable rate.

Miller was no luck sack but he played it smart after reaching his 50 from 23 balls.

In the next 12 balls, he recorded another 50 runs en route to a world record century, smashing the hapless Mohammad Saifuddin for five sixes in one over.

The joke was on Bangladesh who were bleeding runs at an alarming rate, thanks to Miller’s blazing batting. Miller played a proverbial royal flush and was ultimately the king of South Africans hearts. Every spectator at Senwes Park stood up cheering and waving their flags after watching this magnificent display of monster hitting and inventive shot selection.

South Africa eventually reached 224/4 in their 20 overs, with Hashim Amla contributing a fine 85 before Miller stole the show, surpassing Amla’s knock in terms of excellence, execution and entertainment.

Bangladesh stuttered in their reply and were dismissed for 141 as they ended their horror tour the same way they started it in Potch – with a crushing defeat. Bangladesh were touted as no pushover before the tour but SA took their ruthlessness to a new level with fantastic cricket under their new coach, Ottis Gibson.

The Tigers, on the other hand, will definitely need to reshuffle their pack to regain confidence ahead of the coming months.

‘I am obviously really stoked to have set the record as a knock like this does not come around too often.

 ‘I had great support from my teammates and everything just fell into place today. It was a really enjoyable innings, playing some shots there at the back end. A lot of the time, it comes instinctively and I just go with the flow,’ explained Miller.

At this historic moment, time almost stood still as Miller Time was in full flow to inscribe another chapter in South African and international cricketing folklore, right here, in the heart of Potchefstroom.

Miller magic in numbers:

• Miller’s 35-ball century beat the previous record – set by the South African, Richard Levi in 2012 – by 10 balls.
• Miller scored 59 runs from the last four overs – the highest combined in T20 Internationals.
• Miller hit a whopping 9 sixes and 7 fours in his innings.
• Miller hit 62 of his runs on the onside as he favoured the long on area.

Photos: Wouter Pienaar, Mario van de Wall and Barco Greeff