Opportunities are trickling away for veteran Proteas heavy-hitter David Miller to experience lifting a frontline ICC trophy, writes Rob Houwing.
Staunch loyalist or simply glutton for punishment?
I guess both apply to David Miller, the most experienced player South Africa boast in their squad as they seek yet again to break that barrenness in ICC major-tournament glory.
The Proteas kick off their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Afghanistan in Karachi on Friday (11:00 SA time).
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This fixture already has that must-win scent to it, given the demandingly short nature of the "mini-World Cup" and the fact that SA's remaining pool foes are traditional heavyweights Australia and England.
Hitting the ground running will be essential... and that's where a battle-hardened, widely-travelled figure like Miller instantly becomes even more valuable an asset than usual.
It is not for want of trying by the 35-year-old leftie and accelerator extraordinaire in the middle order that the Proteas keep coming up short for the honours at such top-tier global tournaments.
Yet somehow Miller, his only crime his sheer longevity for the cause, also symbolises the country's poverty of more than quarter of a century in ICC men's events.
Consider this: despite his own limited-overs international debut coming as far back as May 2010, 11-plus years had elapsed even then since SA's solitary (to this day) cup-hoist.
That had been the inaugural, 1998 tournament of the now nine-edition Champions Trophy, then branded the "ICC KnockOut" and won by Hansie Cronje and his polished charges of the time.
They clinched the final in Dhaka by four wickets against West Indies - the same opponents Miller would earn his first caps against at both ODI and T20I level (with just a single full day between them) at North Sound, Antigua.
The fresh-faced KwaZulu-Natalian made a promising mark almost instantly, first lashing 33 as top visiting scorer in the heart-stopping victory by one run in the T20 encounter, and following it up with an unbeaten 23 in an ODI secured by a much wider margin.
Some of his exploits subsequently have been much more pyrotechnical and memorable, of course.
Not for nothing is he the country's most capped T20I player by some distance... 127 caps, with next best being Quinton de Kock on 92.
Miller is also 12th overall in South Africa for ODI appearances (175 before the Afghani challenge), with all 11 above him no longer active.
Regrets across the three major types of ICC men's tournaments? Well, with apologies to Frank Sinatra, he's had a few.
Miller has already featured fruitlessly for the Proteas, preceding this Champions Trophy, in three World Cups, five T20 World Cups and two Champs Trophies.
In keeping with his overall record in the 50-overs game (4 490 runs at 41.57), he has traditionally more than done his bit to try to end his nation's poverty at the major extravaganzas.
He averages well above his career figure in World Cups (48.00) while Champs Trophy contributions almost exactly mirror his ODI career average: 41.40.
He does commonly struggle a bit for impact in ODIs on Asian pitches, where his figure drops off markedly to 31.12.
But his last innings in that part of the world encouragingly was also his first century there: 101 against Australia at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in the intense cauldron of a semi-final of the 2023 World Cup.
Then, he was something of a standalone figure in batting defiance for the Proteas as he contributed virtually half of the team's runs in a sub-standard total of 212 all out.
While SA defended their modest score courageously when they took to the field, the Aussies got over the line by three wickets.
More recently, Miller came that crucial bit closer - though still no cigar - to being a hero for the SA cause in that conspicuous cup drought.
Proteas fans are probably still wincing over the brilliant Suryakumar Yadav boundary catch (one of those out-of-the-ropes-and-back-in efforts) to dismiss Miller off the first ball of the last over in the T20 World Cup final against India at Bridgetown last year.
The South African was probably entitled enough to have felt he'd clouted the ball for a six over long-off, which would have left his side needing a still-realistic (with him cranking it up) 10 runs off five deliveries to win.
Instead his dismissal, after intense review scrutiny to see whether Yadav had touched the rope, effectively meant the shattering of the Proteas' dreams in their first major showpiece final in 26 years.
His 36th birthday only four months away, there is cause to speculate over just how many further stabs Miller, specifically, will have at ICC tournament conquest.
Nobody in the party, I suggest, would warrant it more if these Proteas, hardly among the favourites, can lay the longstanding hoodoo to rest at this Champions Trophy.
