Malan facing a ‘tough’ fight to break in to team – Silverwood

DAWID Malan has just been crowned the world’s number one Twenty20 batsman, but England’s head coach Chris Silverwood has warned that finding a route into the all-conquering ODI side is another matter entirely.

Malan’s performances over the course of England’s 2-1 series win over Australia in the past week - 129 runs in three innings against a formidable attack - were enough to lift him four places in the T20 rankings, leapfrogging the likes of Babar Azam and Aaron Finch on the way to the summit.

That is quite an achievement for a player who has picked up just 16 caps at the age of 33, was not guaranteed his place at the start of the summer and was dropped immediately after making an unbeaten century against New Zealand last winter.

His remarkable statistics - averaging 48.71 and striking at 146.66 per hundred balls - dictates that he is now inked in for an extended chance in the sprint format but he must keep working away to earn his stripes in a World Cup-winning 50-over side that has been peerless for the past four years.

Malan has been drafted in as a reserve player for the forthcoming one-day series against Australia, replacing Joe Denly, who heads back to Kent, but will be at Emirates Old Trafford as a standby option only after Jason Roy’s recovery from a side strain allowed him to be added to a 14-man squad and captain Eoin Morgan was passed fit following a dislocated finger.

“Obviously Dawid’s form in Twenty20s as it stands is phenomenal and it seems to keep getting better the more he bats. His record is brilliant at the moment, good on him,” said Silverwood.