Michael Francis Malone (born 9 October 1950) is a former Australian cricketer who played in one Test match and ten One Day Internationals between 1977 and 1982.
In his second appearance, against New South Wales he took seven wickets in the match, including that of Test star batsman and Blues captain Doug Walters.
Western Australia won the Sheffield Shield that year, Malone playing in the vital final two matches of the season.
Only Australian test players Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Ashley Mallett and Alan Hurst took more wickets, although Malone's average was superior to them all.
[3] In a Shield game against Victoria, Malone took part in a 41-run partnership with Dennis Lillee that helped WA to a narrow in.
[4] He won another man of a match game for the Gilette Cup final, when his innings of 47 not out (batting at nine), including a 51-run partnership with Craig Serjeant, took WA to a victory with five balls to go.
[7] It was felt Malone would battle for the third paceman spot with Len Pascoe and Geoff Dymock, to support Jeff Thomson and Max Walker.
[9] News broke early in the tour that most of the Australian squad had signed to play World Series Cricket including Malone.
At the Kennington Oval, he had what he called his "golden moment", taking five for 63 in England's first innings with his medium-fast high action and then scoring 46 as a tailender.
The press in Australia and England blamed the hype surrounding Kerry Packer and his proposed World Series Cricket for tension within the Australian side (Malone had already signed a contract), leading to the poor performances.
"[14] Malone was a peripheral figure in World Series Cricket, appearing in just one Supertest in 1979 against the West Indies at VFL Park, Melbourne.
Malone took 3 for 62 in the 75-over Country Cup Final that the Australians lost to the World XI at Manuka Oval, Canberra.
Malone ended World Series Cricket on the tour to the West Indies, playing in six limited-overs matches.
Other pros in the league at the time included Pakistan's Mudassar Nazar (Burnley), Nasim-ul-Ghani (Lowerhouse), Anwar Khan (Rishton), Mohsin Khan (Accrington) and Aftab Baloch (Todmorden), fellow Aussie Peter Sleep (East Lancashire), Indians Madan Lal (Enfield) and Rakesh Shukla (Colne).
[21] Malone was signed as the second overseas player for Lancashire alongside the great Clive Lloyd, replacing South African Paul Robinson.
[19] He took 32 wickets in the expanded competition at a more modest average of 28.75, in what was a poor season for the side; they won just once, at home against whipping-boys Tasmania.
[28] Some solid domestic form saw Malone return to the Australian side for the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup, the official spin-off from WSC, against Pakistan and the West Indies in 1981–82.
He would play eight times taking 9 wickets at an average of 27.88, he was also Australia's most economical bowler conceding just 3.13 runs per over.
[31] Malone was picked in that season's Australian squad to play the West Indies for the third Test at Adelaide, replacing Terry Alderman, but was 12th man.
"[34] Malone retired at the end of the 1981–82 season, finishing with first-class career figures of 73 matches 260 wickets at an average of 24.77.