Ashes 2021-22 | Test cricket is the pinnacle for me, says Dawid Malan 

Dawid Malan, who made a comeback to Test cricket after a gap of three years during the home series against India in August-September, revealed of the thought of never being able to play the longest format again, after his unbeaten 80 in Day 3 of the Brisbane Test.

"The Barmy Army were singing, the crowd was going and your adrenaline was going (too). I've missed having someone trying to blow my head off all the time. You are playing against the best bowlers going around. It's good fun. It's really good fun.

"For us, an Ashes series is the biggest series of our calendar. To come here and get runs against this really good attack is very satisfying. I'm so proud to be able to stand out here in an England shirt. Especially to do it here at the Gabba in front of everyone."

Malan had struck 10 fours fours by the end of the third-day’s play, while adding 159 with skipper Joe Root (86*) after openers Haseeb Hameed (27) and Rory Burns (13) were dismissed early. England are still 58 behind Australia’s 425 in their second innings, after having been bowled out for 147 in their first, and Malan realizes that the visitors need to build on further to challenge the hosts.

"The job isn't done yet. Just getting an 80 doesn't mean you've made it. It's about hopefully scoring the big hundred that will change the game.

"After what we did in the first innings we needed to park that and put that aside. This needed to be a fresh innings. It's really probably poor of me to say it, but we started that badly (that) we had to park it. The only way forward in this Test was to actually forget what happened in that first innings and hopefully put into practise all the things we've worked so hard on in those quarantine periods. That was the key for us."