club's head coach, remarked that "Shoaib did very well for us last year in the short time he was with us and fitted in very well. He is a gifted all-rounder who is worthy of a place in either discipline and as a 21-year-old, he can only get better and I am really pleased at having him in my squad­". Over the course of his two seasons at Gloucestershire, Malik played eight first-class matches, scoring 214 runs at an average of 17.83 with two fifties and taking 15 wickets at an average of 45.06, with best bowling figures of 3/76. He also played twelve one-day matches, scoring 345 runs at an average of 43.12 with three fifties and taking 10 wickets at an average of 47.60, with best bowling figures of 3/28. In October 2004, Malik was reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for having a "potentially flawed bowling action"; eight months later, his action was cleared. In the intervening period, Malik was used mainly as a batsman. He was fined Rs10,000 and was also given a one-Test ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board after admitting to deliberately losing a Twenty20 match for the Sialkot Stallions against Karachi Zebras to knock Lahore Eagles out of the 2004–05 ABN-AMRO Twenty-20 Cup. The inquiry concluded that the incident "damaged Pakistan's cricketing image and had shown disrespect to the crowd", but that "his actions were not part of any match-fixing with no financial implications, but were an immature attempt to express his disappointment at earlier decisions in the competition that he felt went against his side". PCB also declared the match void and Karachi Zebras were denied a place in the triangular phase of the ABN Amro Twenty20 Cup despite initially winning their Pool ‘B’ fixture against Sialkot Stallions. During his Test career, Malik has batted at 5 different positions and has the unusual record of batting at every position except 11th in ODIs. Pakistan's problems in finding a reliable opening pair have led to Malik being used as an opener in Test and ODI matches. In Test cricket, he made a big impression with his match-saving innings against Sri Lanka in 2006, during which he batted for the whole day and finished with 148 runs not out. His bowling has been effective at times, especially in one-day cricket where his best bowling figures are four wickets for 19 runs (4/19) in