ICC Men's World Cup 2023: England's Dawid Malan on babies, scoring runs and doubters
- Published
Dawid Malan has the third-highest one-day international average of all-time
For some reason, Malan babies decide to appear when father Dawid is playing cricket for England.
Nearly three years ago, during the final Ashes Test in Hobart, he was 11,000 miles from home.
Late on the second day, Malan was fielding when he received a message from the dressing room. Wife Claire had gone into labour six weeks early and all he could do was talk to her on a video call.
At the end of the Test - and after being hit on the head by a Cameron Green short ball - Malan was heading out of Australia as quickly as possible to meet his daughter, Summer Skye. He got back to Harrogate while mother and baby were still in hospital.
This time around the Malans were prepared and Dawid was at least in the right hemisphere. Still, there was a false alarm around the T20 against New Zealand at Trent Bridge earlier this month, then a 6am call to get back from Cardiff after a one-day international a few days later for what turned out to be the real deal.
Baby Dawid Johannes Malan is the fifth generation of the Malan family to take the Dawid Johannes name - not that Claire necessarily approves.
"She doesn't want a Dawid Johannes Malan growing up wherever we end up living in England," Malan tells BBC Sport. "She has decided he'll be Junior. Everyone has to call him Junior now."
It was Junior's impending arrival, and the possibility of it being similarly early to that of his sister, that kept Malan behind the wheel of his car for much of August.
Zipping around the country during The Hundred, he would travel home as much as possible.
It was at this time he was named in England's squad for the World Cup then, a day later, dropped by Trent Rockets after managing only 28 runs in four innings. As clamour for Harry Brook to be added to the World Cup party grew, Malan was regularly mentioned as one who could make way.
"That didn't help when I had stress off the field and it's building to a World Cup," says Malan.
"There's stress from a pundit and media point of view; scrutiny because I was dropped by the Rockets. That added to everything else. It was a tough time, especially when people didn't know what I was going through off the field.
"After he was born it was a massive relief. It felt like there was so much weight on my shoulders. That disappeared. I was able to go back to doing what I do, which is play cricket with a clear mind."
Before Junior was born, Malan had quietly stated his case with 54 in the first one-dayer against New Zealand. After the birth, he shouted so loudly that it could not be ignored. A 96 in the third game was overshadowed by Ben Stokes' record-breaking 182, but 127 in the fourth was match-winning and series-sealing.
It eradicated any doubt that Malan was worth his place in India, confirming he is England's first-choice opener alongside Jonny Bairstow. As a result, Jason Roy was the one squeezed out for Brook to come in.
"The way everyone was carrying on, it was a possibility I wouldn't go," says Malan. "Deep down, I was confident. People judging me on a few Hundred games and pushing other people based on a few Hundred games and a few T20 games - that was pretty harsh.
"When the time came I was able to put in some match-winning performances. To be able to silence the people that had me in mind to be left out... It's incredibly satisfying to get through that."
Even without the runs against New Zealand, it is hard to make a case against Malan, who has numbers in white-ball cricket few can match.
His 24 innings to reach 1,000 runs in T20 internationals is the joint-fastest of all time, while his average of 36.38 is the best of any England player bar Kevin Pietersen.
In 50-over cricket the record is even more impressive. No England player has reached 1,000 runs faster, while only three other men have done it quicker than Malan's 21 innings. His career batting average of 61.52 is the third-best of all time, higher even than one-day greats Virat Kohli, Michael Bevan and AB de Villiers.
Malan is no slouch either. His one-day strike-rate of 96.13 is better than Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan and Pietersen, and only a smidge behind Stokes. Along with Morgan and Sam Curran, Malan is the only man to feature in England's record totals in T20 and ODI cricket - 241-3 against New Zealand and 498-4 against the Netherlands respectively. He made a hundred in both.
Despite all that, the left-hander is often mentioned as a name close to the exit door.
"I feel like I'm always one or two bad innings from someone saying I should be dropped again," says Malan. "Sometimes it does get frustrating.
"The majority of the time I've managed to handle that and to prove people wrong. That is what gets me going, gets me into the fight and makes me tough it out.
"I really do enjoy standing in front of them at the end of the game when they have to shake my hand and say 'well done'. That really gets my adrenaline going and makes it all worth it."
The source of the scepticism towards Malan is hard to pinpoint.
One theory is that there is not space for him and Joe Root in the same ODI side, while in T20 cricket Malan has occasionally taken a bit too long to find top gear then got out (there are also plenty of times when he has kicked on after a careful start). He is not a belter of the ball, much more likely to score with sweetly timed pushes through the off side.
Malan acknowledges that he was not on the ground floor of England's white-ball revolution under Morgan. There was also a veiled dig, external made by Morgan towards Malan after his maiden T20 century against New Zealand in 2019 that he did not run a bye in order to get a not-out. It took a while to shake off.
"My job is to win games and I bat differently according to the conditions or the situation," says Malan. "Sometimes I get it wrong.
"I've always looked at it as trying to win games, rather than where the ball gets hit. I'd be very happy to score a 30 off 25 balls if we win the game. Some people would still want you to get 30 off 15."
Now, Malan is in India looking for a second World Cup winner's medal. At last year's T20 World Cup in Australia he was a mainstay of the side but missed the win in the final because of a groin injury, describing it as "the best and worst day" of his cricketing life.
Malan has just turned 36. This will almost certainly be his first and last 50-over World Cup. The T20 version in the Caribbean and USA next year could be his last global tournament.
For a man who did not make his international debut until the age of 29, he has crammed a lot in.
There were 22 Tests, 10 of which were played in Australia, yielding a batting average of 27.53 - "disappointing", he says. He still sits on top of the International Cricket Council's all-time T20 batting rankings and begins the 50-over World Cup as late-blooming lynchpin at the top of the England order.
"I'm more of a fighter than a survivor," he says. "I always push myself to get better. I never feel like I've made it. Even now I don't look at my career and feel like I've been successful.
"I don't know how long I'll still have the drive. It might not be as long as I would have liked, but I'm desperate to keep improving and influencing games.
"When you get to a certain stage in your career, you ask different questions of where you stand and what is important to you.
"I'll evaluate that after the World Cup, whether it goes well or not. I'll sit down and think about how much longer I want to do the international stuff because it takes a toll. You're away for a long period of time and you're under scrutiny."
And when he's done with cricket?
"I'd love to be a stay-at-home dad, but I've not earned enough cash for that," says Malan.
"I love taking my daughter to soft play all the time. I can jump around on the slides for an hour. I'm all for that."
The hope for Malan is that scoring runs is child's play for just a little longer.