Dawid Malan, England's former No.1 T20I batter, retires from international cricket

Aug. 28, 2024, 11:02 a.m.

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Dawid Malan, the former top-ranked T20 batter who scored centuries for England in all formats, has announced his retirement from the international arena. The 36-year-old Malan told British newspaper The Times of London that he exceeded expectations with his success in the white-ball game but was disappointed that he couldn’t handle the intensity of Test cricket.

Malan, a top-order batsman, played 22 Test matches as well as 30 ODIs and 62 T20 internationals. It was in the T20 format where he thrived, becoming No. 1 in the batting rankings in 2020 and winning the World Cup in 2020.

Advertisement Malan was left out of the squad for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia and hasn’t played for England in any format since the ODI World Cup last year.

His inability to establish a successful career as a test batter is his biggest source of regret.

“I took all three formats extremely seriously but the intensity of test cricket was something else — five days plus the days building up," Malan told the Times. “I’m a big trainer; I love hitting lots of balls and I’d train hard in the build-up, and then the days were long and intense. You can’t switch off.

“I found it very mentally draining, especially the long Test series that I played, where my performances dropped off from the third or fourth Test onwards.”