Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Dawid Malan is one of only five Englishmen to have reached 10,000 T20 career runs.
Dawid Malan believes a continued desire to better himself is behind his journey to 10,000 career runs and beyond in T20 cricket.
Yorkshire’s captain became only the fifth English player to reach that milestone when, on Sunday, he hit a superb opening 88 off 48 balls in victory over Leicestershire Foxes at Headingley.
He helped get his team on the board in the Vitality Blast, something they are aiming to build on against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge tomorrow evening.
Malan, 37-years-old, will play the 366th game of a career which has seen him reach 50 on 69 occasions added to five centuries.
A T20 World Cup winner with England, a Blast winner with Middlesex, a former world number one ranked batter, Malan has been there, done it and bought the t-shirt in this format.
But he continues to seek improvement in himself and chase trophies.
“I think I’m a bit of a student of the game,” said the left-hander. “I’ve never taken anything for granted in T20 cricket.
“I’m always trying to find ways of getting better, whether that’s studying opposition, whether that’s having clear plans to people and practising those plans.
“I hit a hell of a lot of balls. I’m not as talented as a Jos Butler or a Moeen Ali, naturally.
“I find I have to work my absolute backside off to get every bit of talent that I’ve got out of myself, and thankfully that’s paid off.
“Hopefully I’ve got a few more years of squeezing that stone and getting some out of it.”
Of the five Englishmen on the list of leading T20 run-scorers, Alex Hales leads the way on 13,698.
Hales is a Nottinghamshire player but has opted to skip this season’s Blast having relocated abroad. So he won’t be in the opposition team at Trent Bridge tomorrow.
Then there is Jos Buttler on 12,794, James Vince with 12,143 and Jason Roy with 10,176.
Hales, overall, is the second leading T20 run-scorer of anyone in the world.
Retired West Indian Chris Gayle leads the way on 14,562.
Malan added: “I’m not in the same bracket as Chris Gayle as a player, but in terms of runs.
“Milestones are the things you look back at in your career when you retire.
“To say that you’ve achieved something that they have is something I’ll look back on with fond memories.”
