I PLAYED UNDER ARMED GUARD IN PAKISTAN SO I’M READY FOR THE AUSSIES
SAYS DAWID MALAN
DAWID MALAN had never set foot in Australia before this week, let alone experienced the fury he may face at the Gabba in the opening Ashes Test.
That may not provide much reassurance to England fans concerned their porous top five is somewhat less than five star. Yet in the course of a transformative year for the 30-year- old, he has already given indications he may have the constitution to meet one of cricket’s ultimate challenges.
Three months before he hit 78 on his international debut in a T20 against South Africa, Malan chose to play in what was the most heavily guarded cricket match in history.
As an overseas player for Peshawar Zalmi in the Dubaibased Pakistan Super League, Malan (below) did not shy away from playing in the final which was staged in Lahore.
Against the backdrop of an operation involving 10,000 security personnel, he and Chris Jordan became the first Englishmen to play a major fixture in Pakistan since the Sri Lanka team was attacked by terrorists in 2009, while compatriots Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Ty m al Mills refused to play for Quetta Gladiators — Peshawar’s opponents in March’s final.
Malan recalled the surreal experience of being spirted into the country in the middle of the night. ‘ We were only there for 24 hours. We arrived at 3am, were taken to the hotel by armoured convoy, slept, went to the stadium and straight after the game we were put into armoured vehicles and taken back to the airport,’ he says. ‘It was a fantastic atmosphere. I hadn’t heard noise like that, it made me hungry for more. It’s as near to the pressure of Test cricket as you will get.
‘In county cricket you might have a three-year contract and a bit of a cushion. Playing in different tournaments, you have local players looking up to you, the owners want you to perform. It prepared me for my international debut.’
Playing for Peshawar turned out to be a key step along a winding road for someone who could be called an accidental Englishman.
Unlike some cricketers of South African heritage, Malan did not plan to make his life here. He came over at 18 to do a summer term’s coaching at Oundle School in Northamptonshire.
He expected to go home at the end, but ended up staying for life. He was actually born
‘My idols were South African ... but England is home now’
in London and spent his first seven years here before the family returned home.
His father, also Dawid (pronounced Dar-vid), was a fringe first- class cricketer in South Africa who came over to London to work as a dentist and joined Teddington in the Middlesex League.
His son ended up there, and is the club’s only capped player other than Bernard Bosanquet, inventor of the googly.
On his return, the 18-yearold Dawid made contact with the MCC Young Cricketers’ set- up, run by Middlesex legend Clive Radley.
‘Clive said he had enough players but then I got a message saying there had been a couple of injuries and asking if I was available for a match,’ says Malan.
‘ I ended up getting 80 against quite a good attack at Hinckley. Clive asked me about my background and I said I was born in England. “So you’ve got a British passport?” he asked.
‘I ended up playing against a strong Surrey side and got 60. I got offered a place with MCC and six weeks later Middlesex offered me a trial and then quickly offered me a two-year contract in 2006.
‘I owe a lot to Clive. I signed my contract and that same day I made my debut in a T20 against Surrey in front of 20,000 people.
‘I’m not going to deny South Africa hasn’t been a big part of my life. My idols growing up were Gary Kirsten and Shaun Pollock, I’d go to Newlands and watch them. But England is where I call home and it is where I am going to spend the rest of my life.’
His route to Test cricket may be unconventional, but Malan believes it is to the advantage of himself, Mark Stoneman and James Vince — Pietersen has described England’s line- up as ‘a complete shambles’ — that they have all been around the block.
‘We’ve had the highs where you think, “I’ve made it” and then you get a few noughts and are brought back to earth. That’s the benefit of when you get picked at an older age,’ says Malan. So he was not unduly perturbed when he got cleaned up on his Test debut against South Africa by a yorker from Kagiso Rabada.
‘I got on the Tube next morning, picked up the paper and there was a headline with a picture of me on my knees saying “Welcome to Test cricket”. I had a chuckle about that.’
Two 60s against the West Indies were enough to confirm Trevor Bayliss’s belief that Malan is more than a dashing white-ball batsman and book his seat to Australia.
‘Playing them in their backyard is going to be tough but the Ashes can bring the best out of people,’ he says. ‘ Nobody walks into Test cricket as the finished article. I’m going to try to enjoy it. I’m not going to hide away or never go out. These can be the best times of your life.’