I’M UP TO THE TEST
Malan’s ready for biggest challenge HEATHER TARGETS A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER
ENGLAND’S women aim to show the men how to get their hands on a major 50-over trophy today in front of a full house at Lord’s.
Captain Heather Knight is confident that if today’s World Cup Final with India goes down to the wire, her players will not crumble in the heat of battle.
Eoin Morgan and his players flopped again last month as they crashed out of the Champions Trophy on home soil.
But having swept South Africa aside in DAWID MALAN is out to prove he is TOUGH enough and GOOD enough to be a hit on the Test match stage. The Middlesex man hopes to add controlled aggression as well as reliability to England’s top six at The Oval this week – if the selectors plump for an extra batsman in the crucial Third Investec Test. Malan has a reputation as one of county cricket’s most dynamic strikers of a ball and was given an international T20 debut last month. His impressive displays in the 50-over format has also proved that the left-hander, 29, can win games single-handedly. But now Malan, brought into the 13-man squad after England’s humiliating defeat by South Africa in Nottingham, feels confident his frustratingly long wait for a five-day chance can just be the start of something special. Malan, born in Roehampton to South African parents, said: “When you have been waiting for years to get your chance and it comes along you want to grab it. You don’t want to go out there and play a loose shot and wish you hadn’t. “I’m not sure why it’s taken this long for me to be picked but the selectors will have had their reasons. “I made a few tweaks to my game as well and clearly they feel I can score runs at Test level. “I will have to prove I can but I’ve done well in all formats of the game. “I didn’t really expect this call and I’m excited about being in t he squad. “Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed I get in the starting 11. “That probably depends on if the pitch is a bit of a the semi-finals and built up head of steam, the women are ready to get their hands on some precious silverware.
England last won the World Cup in 2009 and Knight, 26 (right) said: “Big stages are for big players and big performances.
“We’ve had a few tricky moments on the road to the final but this team has enormous belief and determination.
“We’ve a fantastic group of players who burner and they play the extra batter. It would be somewhere in the top six but I’d happily bat anywhere for the team.
“You never know how things will go until you walk out there. I’d love the chance to bat at The Oval.
“When you are nearly 30 making your debut, it’s just as exciting as if you were 19.”
Essex’s Tom Westley will fill the No.3 spot vacated by the injured Gary Ballance but there is a strong chance Malan may further bolster a brittle batting line- up which crumbled to an embarrassing 340-run loss at Trent Bridge.
Kevin Pietersen’s high praise of Malan recently has applied a little more pressure to his shoulders.
He recently hit a match-winning 78 against South Africa on his England T20 debut last month and said: “It was nice of him to say what are focused on getting the job done and being positive every moment we are out on the field. Mentally we couldn’t be in a better place.
“If it does get a little tight and tense at the end, I’m confident we’ll handle it.
“We’ve not put the perfect performance together yet but we just keep finding ways to win. That’s not a bad knack to have. But we’ll need he did about me. Coming from a great player like him it’s special but it’s about producing performances out there at the crease.
“It would be great to make my debut against South Africa. Apart from my parents being from there, I lived there for 10 years and it’s a great country – but I’m English!”
Former England batsman Rob Key believes room must be made for Malan to make sure the batting does not collapse again with the Test series on the line at The Oval.
He said: “I’d like to see the wicketkeeper at No.7 where I believe a keeper should bat.
“It that’s Jonny Bairstow, then bring in another batsman.
“There is a reason why sides have always had five batsman, an all-rounder, wicket-keeper and four front-line bowlers as long as cricket has been going. That’s because it keep the line-up perfectly balanced.
“Start fiddling around with that and you can do it forever.” to step up a gear or two in the final.” Knight insists the bowlers will need to be at their very best right from the start to keep India’s big-hitter Harmanpreet Kaur quiet. She hit an incredible 171, with 20 fours and seven sixes, against Australia. Knight said: “We can’t afford to let her get off to a good start.”