'Hurt' England can still bounce back: Malan

MELBOURNE • Dawid Malan says England have not given up on winning the Ashes even if he admits they will need a much-improved performance in the third Test in Melbourne from Sunday to get themselves back in the series.

The top-order batsman said morale in the England camp was "fine" after some honest discussions in the wake of humbling defeats in Brisbane and Adelaide.

"The boys are hurting after our performances in the last two games," he said at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday.

"We realise we haven't been good enough across all facets of the game. The boys want to win, we want to win the series too.

"I know it's a long way for us to come but we have to do well and play our best cricket in this Test match to get ourselves back."

Malan's batting has provided some of the rare highlights for England with an innings of 82 in Brisbane and 80 in Adelaide, but the 34-year-old conceded even he had to be better.

"Myself and (Joe Root) have been in the position to score hundreds in two innings and haven't been able to kick on, which has probably cost us about a hundred runs as a team, at least, and that gets us back in the game," he said.

"Scoring 80's good, scoring 180's brilliant, so that's the goal."

With England's openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed struggling for runs, there has been talk of bringing fresh blood in at the top of the order, most notably Zak Crawley.

"Zak's a very talented player," added Malan. "He's a tall bloke who plays the short ball really well, so there's every chance that he'll be really good here."

Meanwhile, Australia will retain struggling opener Marcus Harris for the third Test and are confident paceman Mitchell Starc will recover from a rib problem in time to bowl at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, coach Justin Langer said.

With 38 runs in four innings so far in the series, Harris is the one specialist batter in the Australia team who did not thrive as the hosts secured big wins in the first two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide.

"He'll play in the Test, no worries about that," Langer said yesterday.

"This is his home ground, he's played a lot at the MCG.

"He hasn't made the runs he'd liked to at the moment, but he knows how to play.

"For him, for us, we're hoping he plays well and gets a good partnership with Davy Warner in this Boxing Day Test match."

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE