"It's Dawid Malan vs Australia" - Twitterati applaud the left-handed batter's exceptional knock in the 1st ODI

England batter Dawid Malan hit the second ODI hundred of his career during the series opener against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, November 17. He became the fourth English player to record a ton at the venue after David Gower, Graeme Hick, and Jonathan Trott.

The recently crowned T20 World Cup champions were in peril in Pat Cummins' maiden outing as ODI skipper. After being asked to bat first, England lost three wickets in the powerplay. Jason Roy's return to the national team setup did not pan out as hoped as he was dismissed for just six runs.

The visitors were reduced to 66-4 in the 14th over following Sam Billings' dismissal to Marcus Stoinis. Malan held his ground and anchored the innings with skipper Jos Buttler providing company from the other end. He changed gears after the skipper departed in the 24th over.

While wickets continued to tumble at the other end, the left-handed batter brought up his fifty in 64 deliveries. He retained the majority of the strike after England were reduced to 199-7 and found a reliable partner in David Willey.

England fans were delighted with the batter's display under pressure as he steered the side towards a competitive total. Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:

Dawid Malan spent nearly 10 minutes on the MCG pitch on Sunday, clearly disappointed to have missed out on a #T20WorldCup final. Here he is only 4 days later, making up for it with his bat raised at the Adelaide Oval after a brilliant ODI ton #AUSvENG https://t.co/ivHAYhkIBJ

Second ODI century in 10 inns for Dawid Malan, an inns of the highest standard vs Australia. He has single-handedly kept England alive, has scored 100 of the total 207 runs so far.

Just a reminder he's available for the HBL Pakistan Super League draft as well. #HBLPSL8 #AUSvENG

Dawid Malan's always said 50-over cricket is his best format, and stats support that, but he's barely had any opportunities with England. Will be interesting to see if he can stay in the mix until the World Cup next year. Root will bat 3, but a chance of slots opening and at 4.

Classy knock by Dawid Malan. Some cracking shots in it. Has scored nearly half of England's runs today. 👏

#AUSvENG

Dawid Malan argues that he can play in the same ODI team as Joe Root, playing more dynamically than a classic anchor.

Slog sweeping Pat Cummins for 6 in the 27th over, with England 5 down, is a pretty good way to make his point

Dawid Malan in full flow has to be up there.

Splendid ball-striking 🔥

#AUSvENG

One man show from Dawid Malan so far, great ODI knock.

#AUSvENG

Amazing, really, that this is only Dawid Malan's tenth ODI, currently with a career average of 74. Suppose Joe Root normally fills his role.

Dawid Malan is properly good. Like how the hell has he not played 60/70 tests

Malan is one strange, strange cricketer. 🏏💯 #AUSvsENG

Malan has to be a part of England’s first-choice squad for the ODIs. He just has to be. You can’t keep ignoring a player of that level.

@ me as much as anyone but we need to give a little respect to Dawid Malan

Pointless series it might be, but that’s a big innings for Dawid Malan. Made the most of a rare ODI opportunity to get himself right in the World Cup mix.

When no one could cross even 29, this guy made 134 which is more than half of the total score of England. Brilliant knock by Dawid Malan. 👏

This is how you pace a ODI innings, Top class from Dawid Malan!👏🏼#AUSvENG

Dawid Malan implodes after reaching the three-figure mark

Malan reached the three-figure mark in 107 deliveries. With England in a relatively good position and Willey holding the fort at the other end, Malan opted to go for rewarding shots.

He played the slog sweep to good effect and proceeded to score the last 34 runs of his innings off just 21 deliveries to take England past the 250-run mark. He overtook his previous ODI highest score of 125 in the process as well.

His marathon innings came to an end after he attempted to slog Adam Zampa over long-off. The long straight boundaries at Adelaide proved too much for Malan as the catch was safely pouched by Ashton Agar in the deep.

Malan departed after scoring 134 runs off 128 deliveries. His knock was studded with 12 fours and four sixes.

At the time of writing, the tail-enders were busy amassing handy runs in the last set of overs as the visitors have so far scored 266-8 in 46.3 overs.

Will the left-handed batter be a part of England's 2023 World Cup campaign? Let us know what you think.