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England’s Ashes ineptitude hasn’t stopped one of their batsmen joining an illustrious list

England’s defeat would have been all the more embarrassing without this man.
England’s defeat would have been all the more embarrassing without this man. England’s defeat would have been all the more embarrassing without this man.

Despite losing the Ashes to Australia with two Test matches still to play, England do have something, or someone, to shout about.

Yes, England’s eighth consecutive Test defeat Down Under was humiliating stuff for Joe Root’s men, but look to the future now, because it might only just have begun.

Jonny Bairstow’s century at the WACA aside, Dawid Malan’s performance has just about been the only bright spark in an otherwise damp squib of a tour for England.

With just eight Test matches under his belt, Malan almost inspired an unlikely England resurgence from 2-0 down in the series, his maiden Test century rescuing the touring side from 131-4 to a dominant position.

Former England players flocked to heap praise upon Malan, and quite right too.

England collapsed to 403 all out and by the time Malan was back at the crease, Australia had made 662 runs of their own, and England were dicing with defeat.

Another Malan fifty in the second innings added a splash of credibility to an otherwise insipid England performance, his efforts merely delaying the delivery of the little urn into Australian hands.

He joins a quite illustrious list as a result – what a career he would have if he could replicate half of what some of these batsmen have achieved.

Even the Australians praised Malan’s gutsy knock, delighted as they were to remove him.

England might lose 5-0, 3-2 or somewhere in between – whatever happens, this guy is surely one of the first names on the team sheet for their next challenge.