Imperious Dawid Malan praises change in mentality as Middlesex march on in T20 Blast

NICK FRIEND AT RADLETT: After Malan’s peerless unbeaten 91 on Sunday - a blistering attack on Gloucestershire's attack, only Sussex – yet to lose with their star-studded bowling lineup– sit ahead of Middlesex in the South Division

Dawid Malan hailed his side’s determination to play fearless cricket after Middlesex turned over Gloucestershire in a mightily impressive all-round display at Radlett.

At a fast-scoring out-ground – Lord’s is unavailable due to its Ashes Test commitments this week, Malan’s outfit were superb in the field as they restricted their visitors to 168 for eight after Michael Klinger had won the toss and elected to bat in front of a capacity crowd at the leafy venue.

In Steven Finn, Toby Roland-Jones and Nathan Sowter, he possesses an armory consisting of three of the competition’s top five wicket-takers; Finn has taken 17, while Roland-Jones and Sowter have claimed 16 each and Tom Helm has taken 14.

Key to the county’s change in fortunes, Malan insists, has been the shift in mentality of his team; Middlesex finished dead last in the 2018 tournament, winning just two games in a miserable campaign.

However, after Malan’s peerless unbeaten 91 on Sunday, only Sussex – yet to lose with their star-studded bowling attack – sit ahead of Middlesex.

“It’s something that we did in 2016,” Malan reflected of the mindset of his charges and their similarities to the last time that the county reached the knockout stages of the Blast.

“We tried our best to get as many wicket as we could – we were aggressive with the ball. We qualified in 2016 in T20 cricket and we did it in 50-over cricket this year.

“Stuart Law has come in and been fantastic. He has backed the way we want to play and he’s an aggressive guy in terms of how he wants to play his cricket. He’s been fantastic in the way he’s pushed and backed every single player that has been aggressive.”

It is, perhaps, less of a surprise to see Middlesex’s batting shine this year, given the addition of AB de Villiers. Yet, even in the South African’s absence at Radlett, the fearlessness of Malan – a player in prime form – was clear for all to see.

With the dangerous Paul Stirling atop the order alongside him and Eoin Morgan waiting in the middle order, the job done by the home team’s bowlers looked even more significant.

“We’d much rather see you getting out caught on the boundary than just trying to defend one for a single. It’s the same with the ball,” Malan added.

“We’d much rather see you hit that hard length in a pressure situation or the length that we wanted you to bowl instead of going to a go-to that we’d have gone to in the past.

“It’s trying to change that mentality and so far it has paid off. But cricket is a strange game – it might work for eight games and might not work for the others. As long as it works in the crucial times, we’re happy.”

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