Malan, Buttler brutalise South Africa

England crushed South Africa by nine wickets with a remarkable 14 balls to spare thanks to a world record T20I second-wicket partnership – unbroken – of 167 in 90 balls between Dawid Malan (99) and Jos Buttler (67).

A world record unbroken second-wicket partnership of 167 in 90 balls between Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler enabled England to cruise to a nine-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare against South Africa in the third and final KFC T20I at Six Gun Grill Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday night.

The victory enabled England to complete a 3-0 whitewash, something the South Africans have never experienced before in a three-match series.

It was also the biggest successful run chase in T20Is at Newlands and owed everything to an unbeaten 99 in 47 balls by Malan and 67 in 46 balls by Buttler.

For Malan to outscore one of the most punishing white-ball batsmen in the world was a remarkable achievement. The left-hander, the No 1 batsman in the world in T20I cricket, struck 11 fours and five sixes in his innings.

Magnificent Malan

Malan, the top-scorer in the series with 173 in his three innings, was rewarded with the man of the match, as well as man of the series, awards.

Speaking afterwards, Malan said he hadn’t been happy with his striking in his first two innings, but praised the pitch for playing “unbelievably well” on Tuesday night. “This time I had the momentum and put my foot down right from the start,” he said.

South African captain Quinton de Kock said that although he was disappointed his team hadn’t been able to defend 191, praise was due to the England batsmen for securing the win.

“Those guys played unbelievably well. They just blew us away,” he said. He added that South Africa had played some good cricket in the series and that "we didn’t play nearly as badly as it looked tonight”.

England captain Eoin Morgan said the Newlands pitch was so good that it put the bowlers of both sides under pressure.

“It was an extremely pleasing win. Dawid and Jos were outstanding.”

He was happy with England’s progress, but cautioned that they still needed to consistently put in good all-round performances after the England bowlers had earlier been punished.

South Africa might have thought they had compiled a winning total when they made 191 for three in their innings after De Kock had won the toss and chosen to bat first.

The size of the total was all down to Rassie van der Dussen and Faf du Plessis who bludgeoned a SA record fourth-wicket partnership of 127 in just 66 balls to propel the Proteas to their best total in the series.

Record stand

The two men came together in the 10th over when South Africa were struggling on 63 for three. They began carefully but built such a momentum that they smashed 84 runs off the last five overs as the likes of Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer were severely punished.

Van der Dussen, who cracked an unbeaten 74 in 32 balls (5x4s, 5x6s), was in a particularly aggressive mood, striking his 50 in just 23 balls, including four fours and three sixes. He took a particular liking to Archer who conceded the most expensive over – worth 22 – in his T20I career to date.

Rassie on fire

Du Plessis, who finished with 52 in 37 balls (5x4s, 3x6s) was also in fine form, striking his second half-century of the series.

South Africa made a solid start to their innings, but Jordan snared Quinton de Kock’s wicket for the third consecutive time when he mistimed a drive to Tom Curran at mid-off. His partner, Temba Bavuma played some fine strokes for his 32 in 26 balls, but he also mistimed a drive to mid-off off the bowling of Ben Stokes.

Legspinner Adil Rashid exploited the situation, going for only 20 runs in his spell of four overs and England looked on top when Reeza Hendricks went early, edging Stokes to Jos Buttler behind the stumps.

Faf comes good

As it turned out, this was just the start of South Africa’s dominance as the partnership of Van der Dussen and Du Plessis sprinted into record-breaking territory.

South Africa, it appeared, had an excellent chance of victory as England began their run chase slowly. But the proverbial smiles were soon wiped off South African faces after they had taken the early wicket of the struggling Jason Roy for 16, leg before to Anrich Nortje in the fourth over.

Malan, who had started slowly in his previous two innings, this time struck two fours and a six off his first three balls and he never looked back. Lutho Sipamla (0/45 in 2.4 overs) and Tabraiz Shamsi – who bowled so well in Paarl – had a brutal time of it, with the left-arm wristspinner going for 57 in his four overs.

The Proteas had their opportunities. Malan was given out leg before to Lungi Ngidi on 16, but the decision was correctly reversed on review. A second chance, when Temba Bavuma’s brilliant throw should have run Malan out when he had reached 35, was botched by De Kock who failed to gather the ball cleanly, breaking the stumps with his empty gloves.

After that letoff, the two batsmen didn’t give their opponents another opening as they took the South African attack apart.

SOUTH AFRICA: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (capt & wk), Reeza Hendricks, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Pite van Biljon, George Linde, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla

ENGLAND: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan (capt), Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid