Negotiations between Sir Pelham Warner at MCC, the British Empire War Comforts Fund and the RAAF in late 1944 produced a fixture list designed to span the European summer. The Australian Services XI, captained throughout by Lindsay Hassett, was assembled from RAAF, AIF and Royal Australian Navy personnel still in Britain — including Miller, Bill O'Reilly's protege Cec Pepper, Graham Williams (a former POW released from Stalag Luft III in April), Stan Sismey, Albert Cheetham and Ross Stanford.
The first Test began at Lord's on 19 May 1945, only 11 days after the German surrender. Williams, frail from his POW years, walked out to bat to a standing ovation that lasted three minutes; he made 53. Australia won by six wickets. England squared the series at Bramall Lane in mid-July, then the third match at Lord's was drawn after Miller hit 73 and Hammond 100. Australia took the lead at Lord's in the fourth match before England, with Hutton, Washbrook and Hammond, levelled at Old Trafford on 22 August. Crowds reached 93,000 over three days for the final Lord's Test — a one-ground three-day record that survives.
Miller's 185 for the Dominions XI in the additional fixture at Lord's a week later (treated as a separate event by historians) became the lasting image of the season, but his 105 in the third Victory Test and 71 in the second were the innings that made him an Australian Test certainty. Cec Pepper's all-round performances were also significant; his omission from the 1948 Invincibles squad, taken as snubbed and the subject of a long feud with Bradman, has its origins in the high public profile he gained in this series.