Miller hoping his 'very special' Steelbacks century is 'just the start'

Miller notched his maiden senior-team ton, smashing an eye-catching 115 against one of the Metro Bank One Day Cup’s form sides.

He shared a 153-run partnership in 25 overs with Aadi Sharma (61), while skipper Nathan McSweeney hit 78, his fourth half-century of the competition, as the Steelbacks posted 347 for six.

And that proved too much for Lancashire as they were bowled out for 280, earning Northants their second win in this season’s competition, ending a run of three successive defeats in the process.

“It was a very special day, and all the hard work really feels like it's paid off on days like this,” Miller said.

"So, it's really nice, and I think (it came) on the back of probably not starting the competition as well as I would have liked.

"It’s always nice to get to three figures, and I'm hoping now that that's just the start, and I want to kick on and keep contributing to wins like this.

"That was a great performance.”

The Steelbacks innings didn’t get off to the slickest start as Miller ran out Ricardo Vasconcelos early on.

"Yeah, obviously not ideal,” Miller said. “I apologised to Vasco.

"Unfortunately, those things happen, and I'm glad that I could make up for it.

"It was nice to spend some time batting with Aadi. He batted beautifully as well.”

Lancashire had won the toss and opted to put the Steelbacks into bat.

“I don't think necessarily the decision to bowl first was based on the fact we didn't think it was a nice wicket to bat on,” Miller said.

“I think sometimes in the past few games it can be difficult to work out what's a good score. And obviously, when you know what you need to get, it's easier to pace your innings.

"I think there's been times in the last few games where we've sort of stumbled towards the end of the 50 overs, or not got to 50 overs, so I think bowling first is easier to know how to pace it.

“We spoke after the last games on where we've gone wrong, and I think being able to set that platform for those last few overs (is important), where we really managed to cash in here.

"We know this outfield's rapid, so if we can have batters set at the end, you can really cash in. So, I think we did that really well."

Lancashire assistant coach William Porterfield said: “We thought the (Steelbacks) total was not a million miles off par. We knew it was going to be really good pitch from the off.

"Both sides in the powerplay, I think there might have been a little bit there with the ball, and we were trying to make first use of that.

"The outfield is extremely quick and a very good pitch, so we just basically wanted to know what we were chasing within that.

"The lads were confident at half-time. You always want to restrict them to a few less, but we were in a game with 380 played 360 last week.

"We knew with quick outfields and good pitches that anything's chaseable. You just had to give yourself that platform, and unfortunately, we were always probably just a wicket or two behind where we wanted to be.

"The scoring rate was never really an issue. It was just we were that wicket or two behind the rate.

“Even writing down until Moorsey (Joe Moores) got out, we were always in with the rate, we just wanted one of those partnerships to extend for another 35, 50 runs, and it takes a bit of pressure off the next guys coming in, but we always managed to get going again.

"It was an extremely good pitch and a quick outfield with gettable boundaries. So, we always felt confident that we were in the game.

"We had a chat at half-time, breaking the game down, and we always knew with around 100 in the last 10, we were in the game. I think we were five down at that stage, so maybe one more than what we'd have liked to have been, and then we just lost a couple of wickets, and once that happens, we were just always behind the game.”