Cape Town: A record second-wicket partnership between David Malan and Jos Buttler helped England thrash South Africa by nine wickets in the third and final T20I at Newlands.
Malan (99*) and Jos Buttler (67*) made short work of chasing 192 to give England a 3-0 series win on Tuesday night.
Batting first, Rassie van der Dussen (74*) and Faf du Plessis (52*) put on record fourth-wicket partnership for the Proteas in T20Is, as they amassed unbeaten 127 to help the hosts post 191/3 in their allotted 20 overs.
However, the score didn’t turn out to be enough to avoid a whitewash as Malan and Buttler stitched an unbeaten 167-run partnership for the second wicket, the highest in men’s T20Is, as the visitors easily chased down the target with 14 balls to spare.
Malan smashed 11 fours and 5 sixes during his 47-ball knock while Buttler hit 3 fours and 5 sixes during the 46 deliveries he faced. In fact, Malan’s 99* from 47 balls was the highest T20I score by an England batsman and the fifth-highest score against South Africa overall in men’s T20Is.
The Eoin Morgan-led side had won the first T20I by five wickets and went on to win the second one by four wickets.
The two teams will now face each other in a three-match ODI series beginning Friday.
Brief Scores: South Africa 191/3 (Rassie van der Dussen 74*, Faf du Plessis 52*; Ben Stokes 2/26) lose to England 192/1 (Dawid Malan 99*, Jos Buttler 67*; Anrich Nortje 1/37) by nine wickets.
