THAT’S WHY MALAN IS No1
A masterful half-century gives England series victory
DAWID MALAN could never have imagined he would play the starring role for England in a nail-biting victory over South Africa when he made his first- class debut on this Boland Park ground 14 years ago.
Yet here was Malan, born in Roehampton but brought up on the Western Cape, showing why he has become the top-ranked s hort- f orm batsman in t he world with a perfectly paced half- century in a l ow- scoring second Twenty20 international.
It was rarely pretty on the most turgid of Paarl pitches but
Malan’s 55 off 40 balls, his ninth score of 50 or more in 18 inter nationals, gave him the perfect return to his old home and clinched this series f or England with a game to play.
It emphasised that, in a white-ball team full of dynamic stroke-making talents, the 33-year- old is now a permanent fixture at three as England continue the build- up to the Twenty20 World Cup next October.
Admitting, however, that he found his triumphant return tough going, Malan said: ‘I found it really hard. I had absolutely zero local knowledge because the wicket played so differently to what I was used to here. It was slow and difficult to time the ball.’
His one regret was that his parents were not allowed in the ground to see his winning knock.
‘It would have been great to get a crowd in and to have my family here,’ he said. ‘But my old high school coach was one of the guys throwing the balls back when they went over the boundary, so at least there was someone I knew.’
This second victory was not easy. With Jason Roy’s lack of runs at the top of the order becoming a serious issue, England had to work hard to overtake the home side’s modest 146 for six with just a single ball to spare.
They would not have made it had Malan not taken the attack to South Africa after his customary cautious start and accelerated just at the right time to strike lungi ngidi for 14 off three balls in the 18th over when England still needed ten an over.
Even though Malan was then brilliantly caught on the long- off boundary trying to hit ngidi for another six, the job was all but done.
Captain Eoin Morgan ensured that there would be no late twist with an unbeaten 26 off 17 balls.
An unchanged England were still not at their best. Tom Curran was once again t heir most profligate bowler and was only spared going for more than 37 by South African mediocrity.
A home side still missing Covid-positive David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo and the injured Dwaine Pretorious seemed to have little ambition other than to see off Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid.
That left them with too much to do against the rest of England’s attack, while this desperately slow surface did not help South Africa’s attempt to break out of the shack les their opponents imposed on them.
Only Quinton de Kock looked capable of testing England but once he gave Chris Jordan his 65 th Twenty 20 international wicket — equalling Stuart Broad’s England record — there was no chance of an imposing total.
Archer and Rashid were superb, Archer bowling Temba Bavuma with a 93 miles-per-hour delivery and Rash id recording his 50 th Twenty 20 international wicket when he bowled Beuran Hendricks.
Any hopes England had of a convincing win disappeared when Roy, averaging just 18 in white-ball cricket since last year’s World Cup triumph and with just one 50 in 13 innings, holed out off ngidi for 14 after looking out of touch.
England also struggled against the left-arm wrist-spin of Tabraiz Shamsi, who took three cheap wickets, while the extreme pace of Anrich nortje unsettled Malan.
But after being struck on the shoulder and thigh in successive balls from nortje, who touched 94 miles per hour, he survived his examination by pace to bring England within sight of the finish line.
Roy still has plenty of credit in the bank but, with so much competition for places, will be under pressure to make a score in tomorrow’s final Twenty20 back at newlands, or in the one- day series that follows.