‘Hurting’ England not giving up on Ashes: Malan

MELBOURNE – England are “hurting” but determined to rise to the challenge and claw their way back into the Ashes series against Australia, batsman Dawid Malan said on Thursday.

After slumping by nine wickets in Brisbane and then by 275 runs in Adelaide, the visitors will enter the Melbourne Cricket Ground cauldron for the third Test on Sunday needing to win.

If they don’t, the five-Test series is over with Australia retaining the urn as holders.

Malan said there had been frank discussions after Adelaide, where a first-innings batting collapse coupled with poor bowling and fielding cost England the match.

“The boys are hurting after our performances in the last two games. They realise we haven’t been good enough across all facets of the game,” he told…