One little mistake and Australians pounce on it - Malan's Ashes lesson

Dawid Malan has been the second highest run-getter in the ongoing Ashes, only behind Steve Smith © Getty

The performances of Dawid Malan have been one of the few positives for England during this Ashes series. After failing to convince in his opening forays into Test cricket, he has scored two half-centuries and a hundred in three matches on this trip and is second in the run scoring charts behind Australia captain Steve Smith. Now with that all-important maiden century under his belt, Malan finally has the belief that he belongs at Test level.

"I've always thought I could play at this level," Malan said. "I wouldn't have got on the plane if I didn't think I could come and play. Until you score the runs it's easy to think that, and easy for other people to tell you you can play at this level, but you need to score the runs to believe in yourself, and to get that hundred has been extremely satisfying from a personal point of view. But from a team point of view it's obviously disappointing not to have made a bigger contribution in that hundred to win the game."

Malan and Jonny Bairstow rescued England from the precarious position of 131-4 to reach 368-4 before the former's dismissal for 140 precipitated yet another lower order collapse. England lost their last six wickets for 35 runs. Although it would seem harsh to criticise the left-hander for his dismissal - caught off a leading edge after advancing down the wicket to off-spinner Nathan Lyon in an attempt to hit him over long-on. Malan admits he was frustrated to get out when he did.

"I was extremely disappointed to get out, I'm really disappointed to get out at any time," he said. "So sitting in the changing room and seeing the wickets collapse [wasn't good]. The way I got out in the first innings I think I let myself down a lot in the fact that I didn't commit to what I wanted to do. I sort of ran down and sort of tried to chip one instead of committing to it like I'd committed to every other shot I'd played in that innings."

That type of positive approach was a feature of Malan's play in Perth. At the Gabba and the Adelaide Oval, he had been far more defensive, looking to soak up pressure and hang tough. He had been in full survival mode. At the WACA, Malan tried to put Australia's much vaunted pace attack under some pressure which is more akin to his natural game. He took on the short ball, for example, after eschewing it pretty much since his first innings dismissal in Brisbane when he was caught at square leg pulling.

"I personally believe we need to be aggressive with these guys as they are with us," Malan said. "If you ever take your foot off the gas with these blokes, they seem to really, really dominate. It showed at Adelaide when we were aggressive to them under lights in their second innings. We attacked them and they fell away just as we did at certain times when they attacked us.

"I genuinely think that whether you're batting or bowling or fielding you have to be aggressive. It doesn't mean you have to chirp, it doesn't mean you have to get in people's face, but when you bat you have to look to score runs, when you bowl, look to take wickets, be positive in everything and don't take your foot off and let them get into the game."

That is something that Australia have been far better at doing than England. When opportunities have presented themselves, the home team has taken them whereas England have missed a number of chances to force their hand in each of the three Tests. One such example was Malan and Bairstow's partnership in Perth but yet again England wasted that strong position. The excellence of Australia's bowling attack saw to that.

"When other teams arrive in England, they bowl the lengths you should bowl in England and they bowl a lot like you face in county cricket," Malan said of the challenges posed by the home side's bowlers. "Whereas you come out here and the harder wickets, and the wickets that are less responsive to just bowling a good line and length, suddenly they test you in different ways.

"They come round the wicket, they try and intimidate you with the short ball and when that doesn't work, the ball seems to reverse a little bit, and then there's cracks. So they've always got two lengths they can bowl at you, there's always two different ways they can test you.

"Before coming over here (I knew) I'd have to leave really well with the amount of pace and bounce on these wickets, if you leave well it means they come to you which gives you opportunities to score. So you can never stand there and just feel like you know someone's going to bowl 14 balls at the top of off stump with the odd bouncer if that comes. You're just tested in different ways and one little mistake out here and these guys seem to pounce on it, which is what makes it so tough."