By Hector Vickers
England’s former top-order batsman Dawid Malan has turned heads in the cricketing world – not for his on-field mastery this time, but for his stance on the largely taboo subject of ball tampering.
The 38-year-old, who held the prestigious title of world’s number one T20I batsman for just over a year, made his thoughts known whilst speaking on the BBC Test Match Special podcast Strategic Timeout.
Historic controversy
The discussion arose in reaction to Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman receiving a two-match ban from the PSL after a panel found that he had tampered with a ball during a game between the reigning champions, Lahore Qalanders, and Multan Sultans.
“Historically over the game, people have been caught trying to tamper with the ball for years. It’s not a new thing,” Malan noted.
Of course, these things are well documented – and in accordance with the rule book, showered in controversy.
Famously, see ‘Sandpapergate’ in 2018.
It was a ball-tampering scandal that sent the cricketing world into uproar and resulted in suspensions being meted out to Australia’s Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, with head coach Darren Lehman stepping down in a cloud of emotion.
As history shows, the result is never pretty.
The change
Malan, however, takes a more pragmatic approach to the subject matter and advocates for a change to the rules.
“I actually think you should just legalise it,” he admitted.
It is, of course, important to note that Malan is not advocating to legalise sandpaper in the game – far from it actually.
Instead, the former England and Yorkshire players suggests: “Obviously, [we should] not bring things in from outside, but it’s a skill in itself to be able to get the ball to reverse swing.
“Just let people scratch the ball.
“If you can get any tactical advantage with the ball – shaping a little bit, reverse swinging towards the end – you want to do what you can to do that.”
The result
A batsman by trade, Malan’s proposed amendment will delight his bowling colleagues.
“I think it would make cricket a lot more bowler friendly towards the end if you can get the ball reversing,” he continued.
“It would make games tighter towards the end and it wouldn’t just be winning with six wickets in hand because there’d be, you know, ball moving, harder to face.”
With 393 T20 matches under his belt, he has ample experience to back up his claims.
Malan adds: “If you can get the ball to move, it makes such a difference at the death.
“You know, the death overs are the hardest to bowl. Batters are so skilled now at hitting the ball miles, and your miss-hits are going for sixes.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: IPL news: Kevin Pietersen on Rishabh Pant: ‘He just needs to enjoy his cricket’
Considered opinion
Having played 114 matches for England, scoring 4,416 runs, Malan is one of only four England men’s players to have scored a century in all three formats.
His period as the top T20I batsman in the world earned him a number of franchise deals, including in the Indian Premier League (albeit briefly), the Pakistan Super League and the Australian Big Bash League.
With exposure across a plethora of franchise circuits, the elegant batsman has seen more than most when it comes to T20 cricket.
Now approaching the tail end of his career, Malan has signed a two-year deal with Gloucestershire CCC to play in the T20 Blast and has worked with the BBC on a number of punditry appearances.
READ MORE: T20 World Cup news: India crush New Zealand in Ahmedabad to retain title