Dawid Malan "frustrated" by England collapse

England's no.3 criticised himself and Joe Root for failing to score a century while also insisting there isn’t a belief problem among the rest of the batting line-up

Dawid Malan has described England’s performance on the third day of the second Test in Adelaide as "frustrating and disappointing" after suffering yet another batting collapse.

Resuming on 17 for 2 after losing openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed late on day two, Malan and Joe Root constructed a 138-run third-wicket stand to drag England to 150 before the skipper was removed for 62 by Cameron Green (caught Steve Smith) in the 46th over.

Root’s dismissal opened the floodgates, with Malan departing 6.1 overs later and England eventually being bowled out for 236, the last eight wickets to fall yielding just 86 runs.

It was an almost identical performance to that seen in Brisbane in the first Test, where a determined stand of 162 by Malan and Root was followed by eight wickets falling for 77 runs and has only added to the scrutiny facing players like Jos Buttler and Ollie Pope. The former hasn’t reached 40 in his past 10 innings and has dropped four catches this series, the latter is yet to convert his impressive county dominance onto the Test stage.

However, rather than point the finger at his underperforming teammates, Malan believes the blame for England’s performances lies with himself and Joe Root for not scoring a century. Malan scored 80 off 157 balls – his second half-century of the series – while Root scored 62 off 116.

^{Dawid Malan leaves the field after being dismissed [Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]}

"Pretty frustrating and disappointing. To have lost two wickets last night and to get ourselves back into a position where we could get within touching distance of them is very disappointing," he said. "We can talk about the guys who failed but ultimately one of Rooty or myself should have gone on and got a big hundred and taken the pressure off those guys.

"We can talk about taking 20 wickets and what have you, but in Australia it’s big runs as well that win you Test matches. In the last Test, myself and Rooty were in a position to score big hundreds, but we didn’t do it.

"And we were in the same position here. Both times we have been found short as a batting unit. That’s something we need to do better. If someone gets in, we need to go on and ensure we get a big hundred."

Reviewing his own performance, he continued: "I’m pleased to have got some runs but at the same time I’m disappointed not to kick-on. Test hundreds aren’t east to come by so to get to 80 two innings in a row and get out – and pretty softly today – is frustrating.

"I probably didn’t want to cut that ball to first slip. You think, 'was it poor execution, was it poor concentration?' In my case that was just poor execution."

Malan also insisted there isn’t a belief problem among the rest of the batting line-up, backing his teammates – in particular, Buttler – to perform.

"Everyone knows their game, whether we’ve been short of runs or not as a group," he said. "That doesn’t mean that guys walk around sulking or doubting their game. Everyone walks out with the belief they can score runs.

"This is [Buttler’s] first time playing red-ball cricket in Australia, we only had one warm-up game so he’s still trying to find a way that works for him out here. Knowing Jos and the character he is, what he’s done in his career, he’ll find a way.

"We’ve only had three innings so far. A couple of the boys have had some scores. We can talk about the guys that haven’t performed but when you get in, it’s about making it count. Marnus [Labuschagne] did it this time and Travis Head did it last time. Whoever it is moving forward – out of form or in form – let’s make it count when we do get in."

And looking ahead to day four, which will likely see Australia bat for a session or two before declaring, Malan sees a clear plan for England.

^{Jos Buttler has struggled with the bat and the gloves in Australia [Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]}

"We’ve got our work cut out with the bat. The first thing is to try to put them under pressure with the ball. If [we] can make some inroads early that will give us a little momentum.

"But that last session will be key. If we can get through maybe one wicket down, we’re in a position to bat out the day. It gets slightly easier off the seam as you know. Nathan [Lyon] might be a bit of a challenge with the way it ended up turning so far today, so hopefully it will turn less as the Test goes on."

Our coverage of the Ashes is brought to you in association with Cricket 22

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