An aggressive left-handed batsman, Dawid Malan seems best suited to limited-overs cricket, despite amassing ten first-class hundreds in his career to date. Even so, a 2013 Championship average of just 21.50 - across 12 Division One matches and with a top score of 61 - was a desperately poor return for a player of obvious ability.

Born in Roehampton but brought up in South Africa, he made his first-class debut for Boland in 2005-06. In 2006 he played 2nd XI cricket for both Middlesex and Worcestershire, making his first-team debut for Middlesex in front of 20,000 people in a T20 Cup match at The Oval. He struggled to find a first-team spot the following season but in 2008 took his chance in style.

An impressive run in the Twenty20 earned him a place in the Championship side, where he scored his maiden century against Northamptonshire. However, it was back in Twenty20 where he really put his marker down with a breathtaking 103 off 51 balls in the quarter-final against Lancashire, an innings that helped cement his place in the England Performance Squad in November. However, as so often happens, he struggled to back-up that season and he is yet to re-establish his credentials in first-class cricket.

Up against the white ball, though, Malan often passes the toughest tests with flying colours. Barely able to make a run in Championship cricket in 2013, he finished high up the domestic T20 hit list. Among a number of eye-catching innings was one of 86 off 55 balls against Essex, when a Lord's crowd of 20,000 saw him dismantle the still decidedly rapid Australian Shaun Tait. A few months later, Malan was again producing fireworks - this time in Bangladesh's Dhaka Premier Division.
ESPNcricinfo staff