David Miller has backed his Yorkshire team-mates to spring some more surprises during the Champions League t20 group stages in South Africa.

The county’s overseas player suffered a broken nose and black eye during the opening qualifying match against UVA Next in Johannesburg on Tuesday, retiring hurt but then returning to the crease to hit the winning runs.

He is fit enough to continue playing but missed Wednesday’s win over Trinidad & Tobago due to four-day duty with the Dolphins. However, the first two days of their match against the Knights were rained off yesterday and today.

Miller will also miss Yorkshire’s opening three Group B matches next week against Sydney, Mumbai and Highveld before returning to the squad for their final fixture against Chennai in Durban a week on Monday.

But the 23-year-old, glued to the television during the T&T match, believes the Tykes will do just fine without him.

He said: “I really think, like I’ve said all summer, Twenty20 is a funny game. Anything can happen. It can change so quickly.

“If we play our best cricket, then you never know how far we could go – the semi-finals or even the final.

“We will be playing against some of the IPL teams but we have a balanced team with a lot of confident guys after the last few days.

“It (T&T) was a brilliant win. I thought we were struggling a bit at four (wickets) down but Gary Ballance and Adil Rashid pulled us through.

“To get through to the group stages is a fantastic achievement. I can’t wait to join up with the lads again.”

Miller has gone from strength to strength in a Yorkshire shirt during 2012 – and although his 39 not out off 29 balls against UVA Next was not his highest score in a White Rose shirt, it was one of his best performances.

Tykes captain Andrew Gale has admitted the left-hander was “as keen as mustard” to return to the crease after being hit by an Umar Gul bouncer.

Miller recalled: “We needed to win the game, so I was always going to go back out if I could.

“Once I knew that my nose wasn’t a problem, it was just my eye that I was concerned about swelling up. That was fine too, so I was able to bat.”

Yorkshire’s squad make the two-hour flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town tomorrow.