ED THIS WAY TO RECOVER, MALAN

SELECTOR Ed Smith spent two hours explaining to Dawid

Malan why he was axed for 20-year-old Ollie Pope.

Malan (left) was dropped from the Second Test squad after visibly struggling this summer, suffering a run of low scores and spilling catches in the first Test at Edgbaston. It is a far cry from Perth in December when he became just the 10th England batsman to score a hundred at the WACA.

But the news still hurt the Middlesex left-hander, who was also stung by the initial explanation from Smith that,

“It may be that his game is better suited to overseas conditions.”

However, Smith is determined to be open and up front with players, promising full debriefs with any man left out by England in a welcome sign that getting dropped doesn’t have to mean the end of the world.

“When a player has been left out there should be clear communication on the way they can improve in order to get back into contention,” said Smith after the first day at Lord’s was a complete washout for the first time since 2001.

“That is the conversation I had with Dawid yesterday.

“He can play very well in very alien conditions, as he showed in Perth, so I wanted to reaffirm to him that one of the things we are looking at is having the right players for the right conditions, which is not horses for courses.”