England have so far lost both the Ashes Tests but they have not given up on winning the series yet. However, for that, they will have to put in a much-improved performance in the third Test if they want to get back into the series after twin defeats in the first two Tests, batsman Dawid Malan has said.
While they lost the first Test in Brisbane by nine wickets and they lost by 275 runs in the second in Adelaide.
“The boys are hurting after our performances in the last two games,” Malan told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.
“We realise we haven’t been good enough across all facets of the game. The boys want to win, we want to win the series too. I know it’s a long way for us to come but we have to do well and play our best cricket in this test match to get ourselves back into the series,” he added.
“Scoring 80’s good, scoring 180’s brilliant, so that’s the goal” – Dawid Malan
However, Dawid Malan has done well for England with an innings of 82 in Brisbane and 80 in Adelaide, but the veteran also stated that he had to be better.
“Myself and (Joe Root) have been in the position to score hundreds in two innings and haven’t been able to kick on which has probably cost us about a hundred runs as a team at least, and that gets us back in the game. Scoring 80’s good, scoring 180’s brilliant, so that’s the goal,” Dawid Malan said.
While both the England openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed have been struggling for runs, there have been talks of adding new faces in at the top of the order, including Zak Crawley. Even, he is also open to playing up in the order. Dawid Malan said:
“Zak’s a very talented player. He’s a tall bloke who plays the short ball really well so there’s every chance that he’ll be really good here. I’ll bat wherever to play for England,” he said. “I don’t see myself as an opener but if they’d like me to, I’m happy to do what’s necessary.”
“(But) everyone’s up for a challenge, everyone’s really keen to face up to the Australians. We do it in white ball cricket, we try and take them on, so hopefully we can get that mindset and not just go into our shells and try and survive,” Dawid Malan concluded.
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