NEWS
Follow UsDawid Malan admitted he thought his Test career was over before he made a comeback to the England set-up earlier this year. The left-handed batter made his Test debut against South Africa in July 2017 and played 14 games in the next 12 months before being left out of the set-up. Malan made his comeback against India in August this year and played a crucial knock of 70.
Malan didn’t have a great start to the Ashes series as he was dismissed for just 6 in the first innings but has now brought England back in the game with an unbeaten knock of 80 in the second essay. The visiting side conceded a lead of 278 in the first innings and then lost their openers with 61 runs on the board. That’s when Malan and Joe Root joined hands and have added 159* runs for the third wicket to keep England, who now trail by only 58 runs, alive in the contest.
"I thought I would never play another Test again. When Rooty and I were on similar scores and the Barmy Army were singing I said to him 'I’ve really missed this. I’ve missed someone trying to blow my head off all the time with my adrenaline going.' Test cricket is the pinnacle so I’m so proud to be standing out there again wearing an England shirt," said Malan.
The left-hander scored three fifties and a century when England last toured Australia for the Ashes series but was soon dropped from the Test set-up after a run of low scores the following summer. Malan then became a crucial member of the T20I set-up, and also left Middlesex for Yorkshire to revive his Test career. The likes of Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley kept struggling at this level and that’s when Malan was recalled to the Test side.
"You can do as well as you want in Twenty20 or 50-over cricket but you’re judged a lot by your Test career. So to come to Australia on bouncy wickets against quality fast bowlers is the real test. The Ashes is the biggest series in our calendar so to come out here and get some runs against a pretty good attack is satisfying but the job isn’t done yet. Hopefully we can get big hundreds that would change the game."
Meanwhile, England skipper Root achieved a special milestone en route to his half-century as he surpassed Michael Vaughan to score the most runs in a calendar year for England in this format. "He always looks to score and he seems to somehow find a way to put the pressure back on the bowlers, and his method just seems to work everywhere he plays," Malan said of his skipper.
"We spoke this morning about making sure we go out and express ourselves. The last thing we want to do is just be sitting ducks, and go out and not score. The chat was ... to go out and play the way we want to play, be as positive as we need to be. After what we did in the first innings, we almost needed to park that and put it aside - this was going to be a fresh innings."
The first two days of the opening Test didn’t go as planned but England displayed a lot of courage on day three. However, Malan knows that England will have to be at their best even on day four if they want to put any pressure on the home side. "It was vitally important. Our first innings was obviously a disappointment and we held our hands up that we weren’t good enough whether the wicket did a little bit or not.
"We’re definitely better than getting bowled out for 147. So for us to come in and do that after a day and a half of hard fielding was fantastic but it’s only half the job done. We need another 250-300 runs tomorrow to put ourselves in a good position.
"The wicket has definitely changed since we batted first on it, it’s hardened up and there’s a few more divots but that second new ball will be crucial for them to counter that. It’s still playing nicely but there’s slightly uneven bounce."