Malan relieved to have come of age
● After a long wait, left-hander is making the most of his chance at Test match level
Dawid Malan is “humbled” at the opportunity to come of age as a Test cricketer in front of his home crowd at Lord’s.
Malan is not stressing about turning 30 – he had to be reminded about his landmark birthday, in fact, less than 24 hours after the event – but does admit the maturity he has learned on and off the pitch is among his most potent weapons as he seeks to establish himself as an international batsman.
The Middlesex left-hander’s progression has come by a circuitous route perhaps and curiously, after yesterday’s announcement of England’s two limited-overs squads, does not yet include national recognition in his favoured one-day international format.
Instead, after impressing with a half-century on his midsummer Twenty20 debut, he was called up to the Test team to face the same opponents – South Africa, the country in which he was brought up – for back-to-back series-sealing victories.
Malan could muster only 35 runs for the cause from four attempts but has since hit two half-centuries in three innings in an Investec series level at 1-1 with one to play against West Indies.
So to Lord’s, where he will be setting aside thoughts of graduation for this winter’s Ashes and simply concentrating on how to score the runs he and England need in the here and now.
On his side will be a knowhow honed from an 11-year apprenticeship, during which he has benefited from the wise wordsoftwoillustriousformer Middlesex team-mates. Chris Rogers and Adam Voges had to wait until well into their 30s to forge highly successful Test careers for Australia, and both havehelpedkeepmalanonthe right track.
He is therefore able to speak with a calmness – and honesty – which belies his relative rookie status.
“Nobody has a right to play (international cricket) ... but deep down you think you should be playing and want to be playing, and I found it quite hard when I was overlooked year in year out,” he said.
“You start looking at the stats and you say ‘what more do I need to do?’”
Voges had the answer – ‘keep preparing well, don’t get ahead of yourself’, to paraphrase – and proof that it could work too.
“Before he knew it ,he was playing for Australia, and something similar has happened to me,” said Malan.
“Before I have known it, I have played four Tests for England.”
“If you can get away from the fact you’ve failed a couple of times, (you just) know that if you do the right things you can trust your talent.”
England resisted the temptation to rest any of their big Ashes guns for this month’s Royal London Series – but Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali do get a one-match Twenty20 break.
In the two 14-man squads announced last night for the one-off Natwest Twenty20 and then five ODIS, all against West Indies, the selectors have sprung few surprises. Moeen and Stokes, like several others in both squads expected to figure heavily in next winter’s Ashes, have been prescribed a short rest towards the end of a summer containing seven Tests and a Champions Trophy campaign.
The most notable omission from both lists is fast bowler Mark Wood, a central figure in the Champions Trophy but who has since suffered with a heel injury which interrupted his Test summer and has kept him out of action since mid-july.
Surrey seamer Tom Curran is named in both squads and therefore has a chance to add an ODI debut to his two Twenty20 caps to date.
Fit-again Chris Woakes is back for the ODIS – with his fellow seamer Jake Ball in both squads – but Steven Finn misses out.