ANTHONY Miles hasn’t played in a competitive cricket game for about five years but don’t rule the Richmond gun out of runs or wickets tomorrow.
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The Richmond midfielder was yesterday going through his paces in the afternoon heat at Alexandra Park as part of an off-season training program ahead of his one-off appearance for Howlong in District cricket.
The unassuming Miles was talking down his cricket prowess but the last time he padded up for the Spiders he made 103 not out.
It was his only dig of the 2010-11 summer.
As captain of the under-17 side in 2008-09 he scored three centuries, averaging almost 74 for the season.
But the 23-year-old, whose stellar form in the back half of winter took him off the rookie list and into a two year extension at Tigerland, said it was never a choice between footy or cricket.
“I don’t think I was ever that good,” he said.
“I just used to like to have a hit in the summer — it was laid back and a bit of downtime away from the footy.
“It’s a pretty good club to be around and the boys at Howlong certainly keep you grounded.”
But club president Doug Nielsen said the AFL gun was too modest.
“His stats speak for themselves,” he said.
“When he was playing under-17 cricket around here I was involved in the North East Knights and there was plenty of talk suggesting he should play for the Victorian under-19s.”
Miles is also modest when talking of his role the Tigers’ late season revival that saw them roar into finals.
“I came into a side about the same time as Ivan Maric came back and Brett Deledio was starting to fire,” he said.
“It was pretty well publicised that the team needed to lift and when that happened we started winning the close games — we all really got onto a roll which was great.
“Whether that form transfers to cricket is a big question.
“I think I’ve had one hit in five years — I’ll be happy just to get a few runs.”
Miles has been on the Border training with Pat Scammell and already looking towards next year.
“I’ll stay here for another couple of weeks and head back to Melbourne,” he said.