10 November - Kolkata - England player Dawid Malan pre-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Heading into the final game of this campaign, what are your reflections really? It's been a pretty productive one for yourself, but you haven't got what you came for.
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, we haven't. You can talk about your personal form or runs or wickets, whatever it is but at the end of the day you want the team to do well and to win games of cricket and as a collective, we haven't been good enough and the proof is in the pudding, if you want to put it that way. We're seventh on the log, which isn't where we'd like to be at this stage of the tournament. We'd have hoped to come here pushing for a semi-final spot and preparing for that, but we just haven't been good enough.
[Reporter:]
Can you tell us about the sense of disappointment? This is a team that's gone deep in tournaments and been there at those big moments and you're going to be heading home while those big moments are playing out here in India. It's an unusual feeling for this team over the last few years.
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, I think there's massive disappointment and regret from us all that we haven't been able to perform as well as we would have as a team. We'd have loved to have been here at the business end and replicating what that fantastic team did in 2019 and what we did in the 2021-22 World Cup, I can't remember, 2020 World Cup, but it just hasn't been and I think as a group reflecting on it, we're extremely disappointed with that.
[Reporter:]
And just from a personal level, because your form is good, this team in all likelihood will begin the process of breaking up and some new blood will be brought in, can you tell us where you're at personally you haven't played as much international cricket or one-day cricket as some of the guys have. You know where's your motivation and hunger to be part of whatever that next chapter looks like?
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, I guess I'm in a unique situation being the second oldest in this team. I don't know what my future holds whether that be my choice or the team's choice. After this tournament probably, I have a bit of reflection time and see where I'm at and see what the future holds for me. Tomorrow could be the last game of cricket for England for me and it could still be the start of another journey. Who knows? We'll only find out when the dust settles.
[Reporter:]
But if it was your choice, wearing the shirt still means a lot to you?
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, definitely. Playing for England means everything for me. I've made no secret of that, I've always wanted to be part of this team and play for England for as long as I can but ultimately you get to a stage where you have to look a little bit further ahead and what's best for maybe the team and what's best for everything else so you know I guess there's decisions to be made over the next couple of days when the dust has settled and yeah, we'll see where we end up.
[Reporter:]
Just further on that, where do you feel you are in terms of physical and skill-wise when it comes to cricket? Do you think you've peaked or do you think you can actually be even better than you are at the moment?
[Dawid Malan:]
I guess from a physical side - the body's quite sore. I've got to admit it's been quite long. When you're winning games of cricket it doesn't feel as sore when you're losing it, you know it starts to feel a bit heavy, but from a batting point of view I feel like I'm playing as well as I've ever played. I don't think you know I'm getting worse if you want to put it that way yeah, I've had some quiet moments in the last year or so where I haven't scored as many runs that I've liked but when I have played well, I feel like I'm still as good as I've ever been, and I guess that desire to keep scoring as many runs as I can is always there it's just whether it's just whether you know the body can stay with that.
[Reporter:]
And if there is a rebuild after this, as it's likely to be, do you think you would have something to contribute to a rebuild?
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, if that's what they want, if they want experience around someone who's played quite a bit and played in the way that the team wants to play you know I'd love to still be around and do it but you know as I said when you get to this stage of being the second oldest it's usually them that go first regardless of results and that's part and parcel of the game.
[Reporter:]
The end for England, did you expect that sort of disaster end for England and what do you say about the match against Afghanistan?
And another question is this, Harry Brook, he played here in India, but he didn't live up to your expectation.
[Dawid Malan:]
No, I don’t think any of us did, to be honest I think we’re probably as shocked as everyone else that we’ve not lived up to the standard that we wanted to live up to and win games of cricket. For whatever reason we just haven't been good enough and we need to hold our hands up and take responsibility for that.
I saw Mo (Moeen Ali) said something that we hadn't seen it coming. You know, we'd still been playing good cricket as a team leading up to this. So, I don't think it was anything that was sort of showing over the last year or something like that. We just haven't performed as a group. The Afghanistan game, that was disappointing. I think if we look back and we reflect on that game we probably let them get maybe 30 runs too many and then with a bat we just didn't have any meaningful partnerships to be able to combat their spinners on that wicket which was disappointing because you know when you're chasing 280 or something even against a really good bowling attack you feel like you're in the game and same with when we played against Australia we felt like we were in the game and we just didn't get over the line which has probably been a hallmark of our performances this this tournament we haven't stayed in games long enough to win them. Which has always been a strength of this team is that someone's been there and done the hard yards to put us in a winning position so yeah, I hope that answers your question.
Harry Brook, yeah, he's a young player, I really feel for him. I feel like there's been so much pressure put on his shoulders, almost as if he was the saviour of English cricket. The poor kid is still learning his way and he's still trying to find his feet in international cricket and learn his game and hopefully he learns from this as well and from all the pressure that's been put on his shoulders and he can find a way to keep getting better because I think he's an exceptional talent and I can see him playing and I hope he plays 100 games for England across all formats of the game. And with anything, when you fail, no matter who you are, the quicker you learn from that, the better. Harry is one of the quickest learners I've seen as a young player and hopefully he can keep learning and hit those heights that we all know he's capable of achieving.
[Reporter:]
Tomorrow the defending champions will be up against the team who came into the World Cup as the number one side or probably the second number. So, what does that tell you about the sport in four years, how things can change, how do you look at this?
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, definitely. The sport changes quickly. It has a way of biting you in the backside. It creeps up on you quite quickly. And I guess, especially from our point of view, as I've said earlier, we're so disappointed in the fact that we are here playing against Pakistan at Eden Gardens and we're not in the race for it. It's disappointing. But we still have a lot to play for, we still have champions' trophies, I don't know if we have actually qualified for that or not yet, but we still need to put in a good performance and leave with a bit of pride, because it's hurting.
[Reporter:]
Considering that lots of English players are playing here in the Indian Premier League, you know our conditions, wicket very well. Considering that, we were expecting at least semi-final for England - last year’s champion, what is the three reasons?
[Dawid Malan:]
Three reasons?
Oh, I'm going to have to think now, you put me under pressure. Gosh, three reasons. Not enough runs, not enough wickets, whatever else.
Yeah, I think that's probably been the most disappointing thing for us, is that a lot of our players have had a lot of experience of playing in India and in the subcontinent. And, I guess, if you're looking in the hole, we've probably had a lot of our really big players struggle at the same time, which very rarely happens in a team. Usually, everyone sort of dovetails each other. And you have guys that are sort of putting a performance, you look at a trophy in general probably three or four contributions from a from a player in a trophy or in a franchise whatever you want to put it is a good performance and I guess we just haven't been consistent enough in putting in match-winning performances as individuals and that's all of us involved in that. I have no other third reason for it.
[Reporter:]
Obviously with the performances you start questioning your own performances in the last five games with the losses and also there is focus from outside from the fans from the press. So, in that situation what's the kind of mindset that you have within the team? There is always a threat that you will slip into desperation, so how do you guard against it? How do you focus on the cricket?
[Dawid Malan:]
Yeah, look, our message has always been the same. I know there's been a lot said in the press when players stand up here and we sort of say a couple of things that might come across quite differently but the message has always been the same we've always approached the game the same way we've always taken the positive option the positive option varies from different conditions to different conditions.
The boys have still believed and stayed true to that, even though it doesn't look like that always. Ultimately, you can talk as much as you want and you can put as much stuff into practice as you want. When you're out in the middle, you have to find a way of doing it. Yeah, I hope that answers your question.