MALAN IS SETTING SIGHTS ON TESTS
ENGLAND’S new Twenty20 hero Dawid Malan has admitted he feared international cricket had passed him by — and insists he now wants to make his mark in the Test arena. The 29-year-old thrashed 78 off 44 balls to help set up the series-clinching win over South Africa at Cardiff on Sunday, leaving an instant impression when he pulled his second ball in England colours, off a startled Morne Morkel, over midwicket for six. And he wants his innings to be the start of a late-blooming career reminiscent of his Middlesex teammate, Adam Voges, who didn’t play Test cricket for Australia until he was 35 but ended up averaging 61. ‘I didn’t think this day would come,’ he said. ‘I had a chat with Adam when they announced the squad
for the Ireland matches and had rested a few players. ‘I said, “Look, I don’t know what else I can do. I can only score so many runs in the games that I’m given”. He was a late bloomer, so he told me what he did and fortunately I got given another chance and I took it. ‘I think 29 is young. You look at some of these guys playing Twenty20 cricket around the world, they’re 38, 39, 40. Hopefully my best years are ahead of me.’ Malan regards the 50-over format as his best, but is determined to prove he can translate a first-class record that has brought him more than 8,000 runs and 18 hundreds into a Test cap. ‘If you look at my statistics over the last four years in first-class cricket, I’ve been as consistent as anyone in the country,’ he said. ‘I want to play all three forms for England. It’s not just white-ball cricket that I work at. Test cricket is still my ambition.’