The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed Dawid Malan retirement from international cricket on Wednesday (August 28). He finished 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 batsman, after Jos Buttler, to strike a century in all three formats of international cricket.
Malan, a late bloomer, lit up the stage in his maiden game – a T20I against South Africa in 2017 – with 78 runs off 44 deliveries. He made his Test debut shortly after, but his performances dwindled. However, in a 4-0 loss to Australia in 2017-18, he got his sole Test century at the WACA in Perth.
Malan’s heroics with the bat in T20Is propelled him to prominence for England. In 2020, he rose to the top of the ICC Men’s T20I Rankings, being crowned No. 1. A few months later, in 2021, the left-hander became the fastest to 1,000 runs in the format, doing so in only 24 innings. He was also a member of the T20 World Cup winning squad in 2022.
According to the Times, the 37-year-old was dissatisfied with his Test match results, having not returned to the Test squad since the fifth Ashes Test in Hobart in 2022, but he was ecstatic with his limited-overs performances. “When I was growing up, test cricket was the pinnacle. I played well at times, but not consistently enough, which disappointed me because I thought I was a better player. Then then, I exceeded all of my expectations in white-ball formats.”
Dawid Malan
Malan thanked his former captain, Eoin Morgan, for believing in him and supporting him on the international stage. “Eoin was superb at both shutting out and silencing the noise. If things were written or uttered, he would openly support me. He’d tell me, ‘If there was anything wrong with the way you’re playing, I’d be the first to tell you.”
Malan’s international career comes to an end. After he last played for England against Pakistan in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in November 2023.
