Yorkshire and England star Dawid Malan calls time on his first-class career

Darren Gough, the Yorkshire managing director of cricket, told The Yorkshire Post last month that he was not expecting to see more of Malan, 36, in the first-class cricket arena, which may persuade the club to sign a second overseas batsman in addition to captain Shan Masood, depending on the fitness of the bowlers.

Malan had played only 17 first-class games since joining Yorkshire for the 2020 summer, but his record was striking – 1,622 runs at 55.93, with five hundreds and six fifties.

“I’m still at Yorkshire,” said Malan, who is England’s leading run-scorer at the World Cup with 236 from six innings at 39.33.

“I’m not going to be playing four-day cricket, but I still have a contract with Yorkshire to play the Blast, and if I’m fortunate enough to get in the Hundred I’ll still be playing the Hundred if I can get a contract in that and get picked up.

“I’ll probably try and play as much white-ball cricket as I can for the rest of my career.”

Asked if it is therefore the end of his first-class career, Malan added: “Yes, at the moment.

“That doesn’t mean I might not have an un-retirement or comeback as a lot of players do nowadays; they seem to chop and change.

“But, from a family point of view, and being away quite a lot in the winter with T20 tournaments, it makes it tough when the whole of April/May and September you’re pretty much on the road five days a week with four-day cricket.

“It’s prioritising spending a bit more time at home because my winters are so busy with internationals or franchise tournaments."

As pressure grows on England coach Matthew Mott, not least after former captain Eoin Morgan claimed that the squad was “unsettled” and should “take a leaf out of Baz’s book”, referring to Test coachBrendon McCullum, Malan said that Mott was not to blame.

“Motty is not the one walking out on the field,” he stressed. “We are being given everything we need to perform. The facilities and work – everything is being done as it always has been; we just haven’t been able to find a way to get wins on the board.

“It has been frustrating from a players’ point of view because we know we’re better than that,” added Malan.

“I’m not involved in selection, or any of those things, so I don’t know how that works or who is in charge of all that, but as players we need to take responsibility when we cross that rope.”

Malan went on: “The only way we can get the noise off the coach is by performing, and it is up to us next three games to win those games and take that narrative away because we have not performed.”