The Strange Case of Dawid Malan
A year is a long time in sport. Less than 12 months ago, Dawid Malan hit 99 not out off just 47 deliveries to seal a 3-0 series victory over South Africa and take England to the top of the world T20 rankings, establishing themselves as favourites for the T20 World Cup. Malan himself also reached the pinnacle, becoming the highest ranked T20I batter since the format was introduced, while averaging 53 at a strike rate of 149 across his career. However, today the aforementioned World Cup began and Malan, just 326 days on from reaching his apex and still world No. 1, was shunted down four places in the batting order. Even stranger is that Moeen Ali, who couldn’t even get a game last year, is now opening the bowling and batting four at Malan’s expense. So the question is : what the hell went wrong?
Dawid Malan is the No.1 T20I batsman of all-time in the ICC Rankings
Source : skysports.com
The short answer is, well, everything. But perhaps the more pertinent question is to ask : what had to go right for Malan to reach that level? While Malan is obviously an international calibre batter; an excellent player of pace bowling with an Ashes century to his name and one of the game's most elegant off-side players, that T20 ranking always flattered him. A large part of it is the pitches he played on, often benefitting from true surfaces where he can utilise his strength against pace and fluid stroke play. On high-scoring pitches and against pace-heavy attacks in New Zealand and South Africa, Malan averages 63 and strikes above 155, compared to 34 and 127 elsewhere. Although Malan has been commonly referred to as England’s anchor, his game is not in the style of other anchors such as Steve Smith and Joe Root, the man he replaced as England’s No.3. Smith and Root focus more on strike manipulation than ball-striking with career boundary percentages around 50% compared to Malan’s 62%. This boundary-dominant approach has also contributed to his infamous ‘slow starts’, Malan’s tendency to eat up dot balls when first coming to the crease.
With Malan’s low powerplay strike rate and comparative weakness against spin, it is clear that leaving him at three could be costly for England, particularly on UAE pitches that are at their best early on. So, what can they do?
One solution is to simply move him down the order. This option is made more attractive by Jonny Bairstow’s powerplay excellence and would allow Malan to start in what is already the slowest scoring phase of the game. However, one could argue that if Malan is to be moved from the top three, then England should employ a specialist in that position, such as Moeen Ali, freeing up a spot for a lower-order hitter such as Sam Billings? One key point is that today’s shenanigans demonstrates a clear lack of trust in Dawid Malan. Although some may suggest that this decision was made solely with the team (and Malan)’s best interests - whether that is protecting Malan from a situation in which he has little to gain or pursuing a net run rate advantage - at heart, to me that is besides the point. Eoin Morgan has built this team on a basis of trust - both in his players and their collective style of play - yet he does not believe that Dawid Malan can overcome his previous struggles and score freely from the word go. If the captaincy mastermind of Morgan doesn’t trust Malan to chase down 56 in quick time, then how can he believe in that same player to win him a World Cup.