Malan unsure of Ashes tampering
If Australian cricketers resorted to ball tampering during the Ashes, England batsman Dawid Malan never noticed it.
The ball tampering saga engulfing Australian cricket has hogged the headlines this week and there was no escaping it at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval yesterday.
Malan would have preferred to talk about his form in the Ashes, one of England’s few bright spots, or how his side plan to turn it around in the second test against New Zealand.
Instead, disgraced Australian trio, skipper Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner, who have been sent home, dominated the conversation.
The first four questions Malan fielded were all about ball tampering and the Australians. He would have copped plenty more had England’s media manager not asked for further inquiries to relate to the second test.
It would be easy to forget there’s a cricket match starting tomorrow.
Malan was quizzed whether he was suspicious of any ball tampering in the Ashes, which Australia won 4-0. He played a straight bat and said it was natural to have doubts any time there was prodigious reverse swing.
‘‘I think every time the ball starts reversing quickly, no matter which team you play against, you always ask the question.
‘‘That’s the way it is. Sometimes, you get the ball reversing quicker than other times and if we don’t get it reversing, we always look at it and go well they must be doing something to it and that’s just natural.
‘‘There’s never been times where we’ve walked off the field and looked at players and gone we think he’s doing something or that one is doing something.’’
Malan stressed it was up to Cricket Australia to sort out the mess with England’s focus firmly on squaring the test series against New Zealand.
Not surprisingly, the scandal in South Africa had been a popular topic in the England camp.
Malan was unsure how many Australians would have known about the sinister tactic to scuff the ball up using yellow tape to make it sticky and pick up dirt.
‘‘I have no idea what was going on in their changing room. I think if a bowler gets the ball and it starts swinging, I’m not sure they’re not going to be asking too many questions either.
‘‘It’s not really for me to comment on that. Who knows and who doesn’t know? That probably varies from team to team ...
‘‘They’ve come out saying they have a leadership group and if that’s the way they did it, that’s the way they did it.’’
England were always up against it in the first test after being skittled for 58 in the first innings. They showed greater application in the second dig, batting 126.1 overs, with four batsmen posting half centuries. It wasn’t enough to prevent a comprehensive innings and 49-run loss.
Their top order had to lead the way in Christchurch and Malan said there was no shortage of motivation.
‘‘It was a bit embarrassing from our point of view as batsmen. We struggled a lot in the Ashes and we came out with high hopes to be able to score a lot of runs ...
‘‘We just weren’t up to the task on the first day, whether the ball did a little bit more than we thought, whether we didn’t play as well, or we didn’t move our feet. Whatever the situation is, we were bowled out for 58 and it was really poor and disappointing.’’