Ashes 2021-22: Dawid Malan rues missing out on hundred again

England’s defeat looks inevitable in the ongoing second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval. In response of Australia’s 473/9 in the first innings, the Three Lions got bundled out for a paltry 236, handing the hosts a massive 237-run lead in the first innings. The likes of Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon made the pink ball talk as most of the English batters looked clueless.

Notably, Dawid Malan was England’s highest run-scorer in the first innings as he smashed 80 off 157 deliveries with the help of 10 boundaries. Notably, Malan arrived in the fag of the second day’s play as England lost opener Rory Burns with just seven runs on the board. Haseeb Hameed was also dismissed cheaply as the visitors were reeling at 17/2 at stumps.

While England looked in all sorts of trouble, Malan joined forces with skipper Joe Root and the duo stitched up 138 runs for the third wickets. The southpaw, who’s the top-ranked T20I batter at the moment, even looked all set to register his second Test hundred. However, he fell prey to Mitchell Starc while batting at 80.

We’ve been found short as a batting unit: Dawid Malan

Notably, this was the second successive instance of Malan coming so close to the three-figure mark but missing it. In the opening clash at the Gabba, the 34-year-old scored 82 in England’s second innings as the visitors suffered a nine-wicket defeat. Having missed the ton twice in the row, Malan is gutted and he expressed the same after the end of day’s play.

“We talk about getting 20 wickets or what have you, but in Australia there’s big runs to be had and big hundreds win you Test matches. In the last match both Rooty and myself were in a position to score hundreds and we didn’t do it, and we were in the same position here and both times we’ve been found short as a batting unit,” Malan said after England were dismissed for 236.

“That’s something we must do better from this next innings onwards, that if someone gets in, to make sure that we get that big 100,” he added. The veteran batte has now scored nine fifty-plus scores in Tests but only converted one into a century.