Dawid Malan goes from nobody to somebody
England batsman Dawid Malan hasn’t enjoyed reading the newspapers during the current Ashes tour.
After all, the cricket news has largely been about how bad of a batsman he is, or England’s offfield woes.
But the 30-year-old will relish the contents of his paper after producing the finest knock of his career during the third Ashes Test against Australia at the WACA Ground.
However a record-breaking partnership between centurions Malan and Jonny Bairstow was followed by a collapse of 6-35, with England posting a firstinnings total of 403 on day two of the third Ashes Test.
When England first arrived in Australia, their squad was ridiculed for being filled with a bunch of no-names.
In regards to the test XI, it was Malan, James Vince, and Mark Stoneman who were singled out. Stoneman now has two halfcenturies to his name this series after producing a gutsy 56 at the WACA ground.
Vince scored 83 in the first Test to show he has some potential at this level. And Malan’s maiden test century has given the left-hander plenty of belief that he is no fraud either.
‘‘Whether you’re talked about as a no-name, or they know your name, it’s always nice to score 100 for your country and put the doubts to bed,’’ Malan said.
‘‘Inside the team, we never felt under pressure, the three of us. We always felt like we had the backing from the coaches and captain.
‘‘It’s just every time you open up the paper you read about how poor you are and how bad you are.
‘‘It is nice to tick a box and prove to yourself that you can play at this level and you can score hundreds. ‘‘At the end of the day, it’s the amount of hundreds you score that you get rated on when you retire.’’
England’s off-field incidents remain a big talking point, and will probably dog them for the rest of the series, even if they remain squeaky clean from this point.
From headbutt greetings to pouring drinks over each other, England’s players have been slow to grasp the concept that their every move is being analysed.
Malan is confident the message has finally hit home. ‘‘We have been silly in certain instances,’’ Malan said.
‘‘But we also know that some of these situations have been blown into things that aren’t really anything, and on a normal tour you probably wouldn’t hear about them. So I think we know we have to be smarter with the way we do things.
‘‘We have done silly things at silly times which has grabbed the headlines, but we have spoken about it as a team.
‘‘A lot of the boys understand that we are doing silly things, but it’s not the end of the world.’’
Meanwhile Bairstow has celebrated his century with gentle headbutt on his helmet.
Bairstow leapt and punched the air after reaching his ton on Friday’s second day of play at the WACA Ground.
The Englishmen removed his helmet and kissed it before knocking it with his head.
Bairstow has been involved in controversy this tour for headbutting Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft at a Perth nightspot before the Test series.
While neither cricketer rated the contact as malicious, the Australians sledged Bairstow about the headbutt during the Ashes opener in Brisbane.
The 28-year-old Bairstow joined teammate Malan as a century-maker in Perth — the first tons by the tourists in this Ashes series.