Middlesex Cricket can today confirm that Pieter Malan has left the Club and returned to South Africa to Captain Boland in the South African domestic league.
A restructuring of the CSA 4-day league sees the competition starting earlier this year, and Malan has been recalled by Boland for the start of their 2023/24 campaign.
Former Proteas Test opener, Malan, initially joined Middlesex midway through the 2022 season, to replace Peter Handscomb as the Club’s overseas player, after the Australian left the Club in June.
Malan played an important role in helping Middlesex secure promotion back into Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship last season and played in all eight of the Club’s Royal London One-Day Cup group matches last term.
In the County Championship last year, he played in Middlesex’s last five four-day clashes of 2022, as the Club went unbeaten in the latter stages of their campaign to secure promotion back into the top-flight after an absence of five years.
He scored two half-centuries in those games, hitting 200 runs at an average of 33.33, including a crucial 93 against Worcestershire at New Road, in the final clash of the year to secure promotion at New Road.
In the fifty-over format, Malan scored 394 runs at an average of 65.66, hitting one century and four half-centuries in seven innings, including a highest score of 110 against Somerset at Taunton.
At the end of the 2022 season, the Club retained Malan’s services as its overseas player for the 2023 season, for Middlesex’s return to Division One of the County Championship.
In eight matches this season, Malan has struggled to repeat the form he showed the previous year, hitting 221 runs at an average of 14.73, with a highest score of 66.
Malan returns to South Africa a month early, with the Club now looking for a replacement to feature in the run-in to the end of the season, with four crucial County Championship matches remaining.
Speaking of Malan’s contribution to the Club in his time at Middlesex, the Club’s Director of Cricket, Alan Coleman, commented:
“On behalf of Middlesex Cricket I would like to thank Pieter for all the has done for Middlesex Cricket.
“First and foremost, Pieter is a wonderful human being, with an incredible work ethic. You’d struggle to find a player that works harder on his fitness and on continuing to develop his game, however he would be the first to admit that this season has been a struggle for him on the field.
“it’s a measure of Pieter as a man that he feels disappointed with how this season has panned out, and it most certainly isn’t through lack of effort and hard work on his part. You don’t have a First-Class career as long and successful as Pieter’s and receive a call-up to represent your country without being a player of his quality who gives so much to the game, however sometimes things just don’t work out.
“Pieter leaves Middlesex having made many friends, wish him every success in the future, and have little doubt that it will only be a matter of time before he is back in the runs for Boland.”
