Buttler and Malan hit tons as England beat South Africa in third ODI

Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan hit superb centuries as England recover from nightmare start to avoid a sixth successive ODI defeat by beating South Africa by 59 runs… with Jofra Archer taking six wickets

• Moeen Ali attempted a ONE-HANDED switch hit as England amassed 346
• Buttler made 131 and Malan scored 118 as England recovered from 14-3
• Archer finished with career-best figures of six for 40, sealing a 59-run victory 

Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan hit defiant and destructive twin hundreds and Jofra Archer showed England what they have been missing for the past two years in a dramatic turnaround win over South Africa.

In a city known for its diamonds, Archer proved England’s jewel with the ball defending their seven-runs-per-over target, taking wickets in each of his three spells in just his second game back from a 22-month injury absence, terrorising the home batting with his consistent 90-mile-per-hour pace.

Archer finished with career-best figures of six for 40, sealing a 59-run victory by castling South Africa number 11 Tabraiz Shamsi.

The 232-run stand between Buttler and Malan, the biggest ever for an England pair against South Africa in one-day internationals, provided an attack featuring several returnees from lay-offs plenty to work with on a ground which favours chasing – 11 of the previous 14 ODIs were won by teams batting second.

It was the cornerstone of England’s highest score of the series, surpassing the 342 they posted in Sunday’s second match in Bloemfontein, and significantly reduce the chances of them being consigned to a whitewash and six consecutive defeats for the first time since 2009.

Captain Jos Buttler scored a superb century as England beat South Africa by 59 runs

At 20 for three in the 11th over, such a proposition appeared absurd but powered by 19 sixes, the most in a one-day international innings in South Africa, they got there in the final over.

Buttler and Malan both played with ice in their veins despite the searing heat of the Northern Cape, coming together following Lungi Ngidi’s triple strike with the new ball. Such was the pressure the South African attack exerted after Temba Bavuma made it a hat-trick of winning tosses, that they failed to score a run off the bat for 22 deliveries at one stage.

Questioning his limited opportunities last year, Malan told incoming coach Matthew Mott that 50-over cricket was his best format, as he had multiple gears.

Yesterday, he backed up the claim, moving serenely through them once he had stabilised things in the face of home dominance.

Twice South African fielders got hands to chances before Malan reached a half-century from 79 balls, and they were left to rue the second, from the final delivery of the 30th over when Tabraiz Shamsi failed to haul in a caught and bowled, diving to his right.

Next ball, Malan swivelled to tower left-armer Wayne Parnell into the well-populated grass banks at deep square leg to bring up his landmark and begin an astonishing assault of 217 runs from the final 20 overs.

Buttler found the going tough initially, taking 14 deliveries to get off the mark and avoiding a run out while still in figures by a single camera frame. However, once past Kevin Pietersen’s tally of 4422 runs and into sixth place in England’s leading one-day run scorers, via a leg-side flick to the boundary off Sisanda Magala that took him into the 20s, he didn’t look back.

It was Buttler who upped the tempo initially but Malan’s spectacular explosion, exploiting the ground’s dimensions to hit multiple straight sixes, saw him overtake his captain and reach three figures first. Both did so in the 39th over, from 106 balls each.

Buttler made 131 and Dawid Malan scored 118 as England recovered from 14-3 to reach 346-7

Even though South Africa separated the fourth-wicket duo at the start of the final power play when Malan miscued another attempted clearance of the ropes, there was no respite.

Moeen Ali took advantage of an increasingly ragged performance from the home attack to clear the ropes four times, twice in consecutive Ngidi deliveries, in a cameo of 41. Sam Curran and Adil Rashid also hit sixes at the death.

Then came the reprise of Archer’s hostile best, less than a week after he returned his worse figures in 50-over internationals on his comeback.

Entering the attack as first change in the eighth over, his speeds were considerably up on last Friday’s display, and one that left Rassie van der Dussen flew into the clutches of Jason Roy at backward point.

Buttler and Malan 118 shared 232 for the fourth wicket – England’s fourth-highest ODI stand

That 12th over breakthrough reduced South Africa to 62 for two, but it was his return from the Boshof end in mid-innings that placed England in the box seat.

Aiden Markram tried to turn the pace of Archer’s fourth ball back against him but only succeeded in skying to midwicket, and when David Miller edged behind the first delivery of his next over, the 28th of the innings, South Africa were 174 for five.

But it was arguably his third spell that was most impressive. Returning with South Africa on top, requiring 73 off the final 11 overs, and seventh-wicket duo Heinrich Klaasen and Wayne Parnell well set, he dismissed both set batters, either side of Adil Rashid snaring his third wicket of the innings by having Sisanda Magala caught behind, to provide the result with inevitability.

South Africa were bowled out for 287, with fast bowler Jofra Archer taking six wickets

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