Dawid Malan details mental health struggles sparked by Ed Smith put-down

NICK HOWSON: The former national selector suggested Malan was "better suited to overseas conditions" after the decision to drop him from the Test side in 2018

Dawid Malan has described how a disparaging remark from ex-national selector Ed Smith sparked waves of social media criticism that affected his mental health and after being dumped from the Test team in 2018.

Despite scoring a belligerent 140 in Perth in an otherwise disastrous Ashes tour in 2017-18, a run of one fifty in 10 innings led to the left-hander being shafted one Test into the India series the following summer.

Upon confirmation of his omission, Smith stated “it may be that his game is better suited to overseas conditions” and didn't exactly distance himself from the comments when explaining the decision further.

Less than four full months after the removal of the national selector position, Malan is back in the England Test fold. He has revealed for the first time the struggles he endured following those remarks which led to social media criticism that dogged his career for many months while he played franchise competitions in South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

"When you get dropped at the time you're very emotional," he said on the eve of his anticipated return for the third Test against India at Headingley. "You feel you should be playing or you shouldn't be dropped. 

"At that time with everything that went on if you get dropped because you haven't scored runs then that's absolutely fine. People can handle it. 

"Once the dust settled you look back and I didn't score enough runs especially in those last four or five Tests. 

^{One fifty in 10 innings led to Malan being dropped after the first India Test in 2018}

"The comments didn't help. You work your absolute socks off in your career for that right to play for England, you get that call and to have comments that derail you as a player and get you pigeonholed into things. 

"It is amazing how that leads to every single Tom, Dick and Harry has an opinion on you on social media. 

"You get, I wouldn't say abused, but every time you nick off it comes back to bite you. 

"It did affect me for the next four, five, six months. I went away and played some tournaments and couldn't get in the right headspace. 

"Having a break and getting back my thoughts mentally after all those comments happened I found a new lease of life.

"I realised what I had done wrong the first time and I was still around the white-ball stuff to put that into practice. Hopefully, the stuff I've learned will put me in good stead."

That said, Malan's return is certainly timely given Australia, where he struck a century and three fifties during the last tour, are on the horizon. But with three Tests against India to come, that series - if it even takes place - feels a lifetime away.

^{Just months before being shafted, Malan struck 140 in Perth}

"I'd love to have another crack, down there," the 33-year-old conceded. "It was a disappointing tour not to win a game (Australia won 4-0) but to get some runs was nice. The only way I am getting to Australia is to earn the right here in these three games. It would be fantastic."

Since that very public exit from the Test team, Malan has become a staple of Eoin Morgan's white-ball team and is ranked No.1 in the ICC T20 batting standings.

Like many of his teammates, preparation for this series has come in the form of The Hundred. Malan has played four first-class matches since the start of 2020, though he struck 199 on his last outing for Yorkshire against Sussex. But he sees the lack of proper match practice as part of the challenge.

"It is (a concern)," he added on his lack of recent exposure to the red ball. "We know how tough English conditions can be at times. It is also a great place to bat once you get in as Joe Root has shown in all these Tests.

"Not playing a lot of red-ball cricket doesn't help with rhythms and what have you but that is the challenge we players have. If we're here we believe we are good enough and it is up to us to find a way of doing it and batting for long periods of time.

"A good 30 or 60 is probably not good enough. You want to score those big hundreds and to do that you want to bat for a day, a day and a half and that is where the challenge comes from if you don't play a lot of red-ball cricket."

He added: "It is what it is at the moment with Covid and scheduling and the way it is. The English summer is really tough to fit the schedule in. It can't be easy from an ECB or scheduling point of view to get those things right. We as players have to get on with it."