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dawid malan
Middlesex’s woes
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of September, 2 Comments »
I don’t know what’s going on at Middlesex. One minute they’re winning the Twenty20 Cup and heading to India for the Champions League. The next, they’re trying to tempt South Africa’s Mickey Arthur into a new post of managing director (though Angus Fraser is the current front-runner). For a brief few weeks, Middlesex re-tasted glory – the glory that is rightfully theirs, having nobly sacrificed their own form for the past 17 years to allow the other prissy teams (Lancashire, Sussex, Warwickshire – all those tramps) some success. They want this glory back. It is theirs, they play at the home of cricket, and justice will be done.
Well, it turns out that justice will not be served just yet. News comes through that Ed Joyce has turned down the captaincy; Shaun Udal has accepted the captaincy; Dawid Malan, the club’s brightest prospect since Owais Shah, might be off to Warwickshire. And poor old Nick Compton’s had enough and might be splitting to Somerset.
It nearly makes me want to support Durham on a full-time basis. And perhaps I will if we lose Malan.
2 Comments »Dawid Malan surprises everyone
By Will 2 years ago, mid-July, 8 Comments »
He has apparently played nicely all season has Dawid Malan, Middlesex’s 20-year-old left-hander. I hadn’t seen him until today, when he produced the most blistering 103 imaginable to help Middlesex beat Lancashire and loft them into Finals Day. This was no slog. This was a perfectly crafted innings of rare elegance, celebrated with no more exhuberance than flicking his bat to the crowd and nodding to their applause.
He destroyed the spinners in particular, through quick footwork and even faster hands, smacking them over long-off and midwicket. But he looks like he can play all around the wicket, too. A serious talent.
I was surprised at Sky’s commentary. Nasser, in particular, is going absolutely nuts over Twenty20 this season, gushing and weeping over the talent he has seen over the past few weeks. He has a point too. There are a lot of young players who have poked their heads up above the parapet in this Cup. Twenty20 exposes the brave (and foolhardy), and never was there a more appropriate format of the game for the fearlessness of youth to demand our attention.
Today’s match was a belter. Middlesex were 21 for 4 before Malan (whose nickname is AC…) went berserk, and their bowlers then tied Lancashire up in knots. They were knotted, if you like. More wibble here.
8 Comments »