Dawid Malan hopes he has 'ticked a few boxes' as he aims to become undroppable for England
"All I can do is keep scoring runs and if I score runs at the rate I am scoring them at hopefully that will make it hard for them to ignore what I'm doing"
Tuesday 8 September 2020 17:25, UK
England batsman Dawid Malan hopes he has "ticked a few boxes" as he aims to make himself undroppable in T20 cricket.
Malan has passed fifty eight times in 15 T20I innings - including a century in New Zealand last November - and averages 50.84 for his country in the shortest format.
The 33-year-old says he still faces pressure on his place with Jason Roy (injured) and Ben Stokes (absent for family reasons) likely to return to the starting XI when available.
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But the left-hander has boosted his claims for a regular role this summer with half-centuries apiece against Australia and Pakistan and 42 against the former on Sunday as England sealed a series win.
"I want to be part of this XI but getting frustrated is not going to help me get into the team," said Malan ahead of Tuesday's third T20I against Australia, with England eyeing a series sweep.
"We all know how good the players are that hold those positions - their records over the last four or five years have been fantastic.
"For anyone to break in you have to be extremely consistent and win games of cricket for England. Hopefully I have ticked a few boxes that (captain) Eoin (Morgan) and the selectors want.
"I am really pleased (with my form). When you get limited opportunities you have to make full use of those so to do that when you are under pressure is very satisfying.
"All I can do is keep scoring runs and if I score runs at the rate I am scoring them at hopefully that will make it hard for them to ignore what I'm doing.
"I am aware guys like Jason and Stokesy will come back in at some point, so it's my job to score runs and put pressure on them as well as Morgs and the selectors."
Malan has spoken to Morgan about his reputation as a slow starter in T20I innings and insists his captain is fully behind his approach - though says his skipper did warn him of the dangers of slipping down the order in domestic T20 cricket if he wanted to show he could also be England's finisher.
I don’t think I’m anywhere near as good as Virat Kohli – if I had played 50 games I could be compared to some extent.
"The goal is obviously to score as quickly as you can - it's not something in my game plan that I want to take five balls or 10 balls to get in, it's just the way it happens," said Malan, who also confirmed he is in talks to join a Big Bash League franchise this winter.
"There has been a lot written in the press about it and it's something I have spoken to Morgs about even before this series, saying 'is there anything you want me to do differently?'
He said 'the way you play is exactly what we want, just keep doing what you're doing'. If the man that matters is happy with the way I am approaching it that's good enough for me at the moment.
"That doesn't mean I am not trying to improve - I am always trying to be better so I can keep pushing a case to be in the starting XI.
I like to know where I stand in the team set-up and when you play in a series Morgs does that really well, giving you that freedom and taking the fear away.
"[Dropping down the order domestically] is something I spoke to Eoin about and his answer to me was 'if you drop down to five in county cricket and don't get runs there is a chance you won't get picked for England as the squad is picked on form and who is doing well'.
"He said it's your choice if you want to take a year doing something out of your comfort zone that would potentially risk you getting picked for England in the future.
"His words were 'if you keep doing what you're doing, keep improving, there's no reason you can't potentially slot into those (middle order) positions' even though they see me as a top-four batter."
The 2021 T20 World Cup will take place in India and Malan hopes his experience playing franchise T20 cricket in the subcontinent - the batsman has enjoyed stints in the Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League - will increase his chances of making and starring in the event.
"I think it is undervalued how important these tournaments actually are to a player's development," added Malan.
"You go to Bangladesh and you could play on a wicket that is a 200 wicket on a Monday and then on the Tuesday 120 wins the game. You are consistently leaning how to read and adapt to conditions.
"I think that is one of my strengths in T20 cricket that I can adapt to conditions pretty quickly, know when to go and when to sit back. It's a good learning curve going out there.
"If I am lucky enough to play well enough over the next year and somehow get into that Twenty20 World Cup squad, then I hope that experience playing in tournaments will stand me in good stead."
Watch the third T20 international between England and Australia live on Sky Sports Cricket from 5.30pm on Tuesday.
