Malan for England
Batsman recalled to face India after three years in the cold
Dawid Malan has won a Test recall after a three-year hiatus, as England finally jettisoned Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley. It means that Haseeb Hameed will open in the third Test against India despite scoring just nine runs at Lord’s.
With Chris Silverwood, as he had threatened, shaking up England’s batting order in the wake of the bruising second-test defeat, you would think it would be the moment for tough talking. Instead, it was a time for euphemism.
“The Test series is beautifully poised,” said the England head coach when announcing his squad, “and we are relishing the prospect of aiming to bounce back at Headingley.” Most people, though, would say this series is heavily weighted in India’s favour, and we are dreading what further depths England will sink to, especially when batting, after losing five and drawing two of their past seven Tests.
“Dawid Malan deserves his opportunity in the Test arena,” Silverwood went on. “He has a lot of experience across all formats and, if called upon, I am confident that he can come and do well on his home ground. In the limited time he has played first-class cricket this season, he has shown what he is capable of, scoring a highly accomplished 199 for Yorkshire against Sussex at Headingley in June.”
On the statistical evidence, however, Malan does not deserve this opportunity. In his 26 Test innings he averaged 27, and dropped more than his share of catches at second slip before his Test career was ended after the Edgbaston Test of 2018 against India, who exposed the left-hander’s limited footwork against the swinging ball, and might well do so again.
But could a deal have been struck, tacit or explicit? Has Malan, who will turn 34 in September, been told that his white-ball days are over, that his highly efficient method against the white ball has been overtaken by young bucks such as Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt?
Hitting the highest score in the Hundred, 92 not out, has further strengthened Livingstone’s case to be England’s No3 in the 20-over World Cup in late October. Malan’s rating as the world No1 T20 batsman always seemed to say more about the International Cricket Council’s algorithms than him or his batting.
Instead, as ample compensation, Malan could be given to understand by Silverwood that he will have a run at No3 in the Test side, until the end of the Ashes at least. Three is a place too high, and Malan has only just started batting there for Yorkshire. His footwork will keep all of India’s seamers interested, but he was overall the soundest of England’s batsmen in the 2017-18 Ashes because of his self-discipline.
When he scored 140 in the Perth Test Malan, like Alastair Cook, limited himself to three shots and played only those, all day: the off drive, a cut and a pull, for hour after hour. It looked like a self-discipline he had acquired growing up in South Africa, before returning to England where he was born when his father was a dentist in London.
For another euphemism, how about this. “Dom Sibley needs some time away to regain his confidence after a challenging period,” said Silverwood. “He will return to Warwickshire to spend time in the middle without the scrutiny and find some rhythm and confidence.”
Silverwood’s assessment is nice and polite – and euphemistic. Sibley has gone because of his technique.
In the absence of film footage dating back to 1877, it is safe to say that no England batsman has succeeded at Test level with a more unorthodox technique than Sibley’s; his hands and bat thrown out wide then coming down across the line of the ball. Certainly not an opener. It speaks volumes for Sibley’s other qualities that he has reached 1,000 Test runs, but bowlers have worked him out and reduced him to 356 runs in his 20 Test innings this year.
Sibley “remains part of our plans”, Silverwood said, which is not too surprising. On the England Lions tour of Australia, Sibley did chisel out two centuries, and England will take a squad of about 25 players this winter. However it is his Warwickshire colleague Rob Yates, a left-hander of orthodox technique who has just finished university, who is more likely to be England’s long-term answer.
Note the difference in emphasis when Silverwood spoke of Zak Crawley. While Sibley remains “part of our plans”, Crawley is still “a massive part of our plans” and “I do not doubt that his time will come again in the Test arena”. No euphemism on this occasion. Crawley might well have 5,000 Test runs in him, only not in the foreseeable future.
Two other players on the way out of the England squad are Moeen Ali and Craig Overton. Their hiatus will only be temporary, however, with the pair released to play for their franchise sides in the Hundred knockouts, which start tomorrow.
Overton’s Southern Brave take on Trent Rockets at the Oval, with the winner progressing to the final to play Moeen’s Birmingham Phoenix, who qualified automatically to the Lord’s showpiece by virtue of finishing top of the group stage. Birmingham captain Moeen has been one of the stars of the tournament.
When he scored 140 in Perth, he limited himself to three shots and played only those – all day