Dawid Malan retires from international cricket

Dawid Malan has announced his retirement from international cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Wednesday (August 28). He retired with 1,892 runs in T20Is (62 matches), 1,450 in ODIs (30 games) and 1,074 in Tests (22 matches). He is only the second English batter after Jos Buttler, to have scored a century in all three formats of the game in international cricket.

A late bloomer, Malan had set the stage on fire in his debut game - a T20I against South Africa in 2017 - where he scored 78 off merely 44 deliveries. He made his Test debut soon after but achieved dwindling returns. However, in the 4-0 drubbing to Australia in 2017-18, he scored his only Test century at the WACA in Perth.

Malan's exploits with the bat in the T20I arena is where he became a powerhouse for England. In 2020, he reached the pinnacle of the ICC Men's T20I Rankings, being named No. 1. Few months later in 2021, the left-hander became the fastest to reach 1,000 runs in the format, in just 24 innings. He was also part of the T20 World Cup winning squad in 2022.

Speaking to the Times, the 37-year-old was disappointed by his returns in Test match cricket, having not made a return to the Test squad since the fifth Ashes Test at Hobart in 2022 but he was delighted with his exploits in the limited-overs format. "Test cricket was always the pinnacle for me growing up. At times I played well but in between just wasn't good enough or consistent enough, which was disappointing because I felt I was a better player than that. Then again, I exceeded all expectations of myself in white-ball formats."

Malan credited his former captain Eoin Morgan for backing him at the international level, and giving him the vote of confidence he needed. "Eoin was brilliant at shutting out the noise and silencing it as well. If things were being written or said, he would openly back me. He'd say to me, 'If there was anything wrong with the way you're playing, I'll be the first one to tell you."

Malan ends his international career, having last played for England back in November 2023 against Pakistan in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.