Innings break England 346 for 7 (Buttler 131, Malan 118, Ngidi 4-62) vs South Africa
At the 10-over mark, England’s scoring rate was going absolutely nowhere at 20 for 3, their second-lowest score at that point of an ODI innings since 2006, after South Africa had won the toss and sent the visitors in on a ground notoriously difficult to defend upon.
Ngidi hit his lengths beautifully from the outset and struck with his sixth ball, the 12th of the day, as Jason Roy advanced on one that moved away slightly, mistiming his attempted drive and chipping tamely to mid-off where Temba Bavuma pocketed a straightforward catch.
Ngidi struck again immediately in his second over with a shorter ball angled across left-hander Ben Duckett, who nicked to Heinrich Klaasen, behind the stumps in place of Quinton de Kock who injured his thumb in the second match. It ended a lacklustre series with the bat for Duckett, who returned to the format for the first time since 2016 but managed just 23 runs from his three innings, and left England at 5 for 2.
Harry Brook was unable to lift his side off the back of his knock of 80 in the second game, which followed a duck on debut in the series opener, when Ngidi had him caught behind stabbing at a wide delivery outside off stump which found the inside edge.
Buttler found the initial going tough, taking 14 balls to get off the mark, which he did cutting Marco Jansen in front of point.
Aiden Markram entered the attack and saw his fourth ball smashed for six over long-off as Buttler set about trying to raise the tempo. That was after he had narrowly survived being run out chancing a second off Wayne Parnell with David Miller diving, gathering and firing the ball into Klaasen in one fluid motion, and before Malan’s pull shot off Tabraiz Shamsi while on 23 burst through Reeza Hendricks’ fingertips.
Buttler raised his 24th ODI fifty off 64 balls, which was slow by his standards but what his side needed in the circumstances. Shamsi missed the chance to remove Malan when he dived to his right for an attempted return catch but managed only to get a finger to it. Malan then dispatched Parnell over the fence at deep square leg to bring up an even more sluggish half-century (off 79) two balls later.
From there, however, Malan went on the attack, carving Parnell to the boundary through backward point and heaving Shamsi for six over wide long-on, Shamsi conceding a second maximum in three balls when Buttler pummelled him over midwicket.
The England duo began pouncing on anything short, and there was plenty from Jansen as he conceded 18 runs off the 34th over – 17 of them to Malan who targeted the leg-side fence, and beyond, three times in as many balls. Buttler punished a Markram short ball into the stands over deep midwicket next over and the pair brought up their centuries in the space of three balls from Sisanda Magala, Malan with a dab to the deep-third rope and Buttler flicking to the leg side for two. Malan’s second fifty came off just 27 balls and Buttler’s from 42.
The pair didn’t let up and their exploits took England from deep trouble to seriously competitive mode at 246 for 4 before Malan’s leading edge off Magala found Klaasen waiting underneath it at short fine leg.
Moeen Ali slotted in for an effective cameo, taking England past the 300-mark that had seemed so far out of reach earlier with back-to-back sixes, including one off a no-ball from Ngidi who ended up conceding 62 runs for his four wickets as England piled on 270 runs off the last 30 overs. Moeen struck four maximums in his 41-run contribution off just 23 balls before Ngidi nailed him with a yorker which tore between his ankles.
Buttler’s knock ended when he holed out to long-on off Jansen three balls later, but by then England were in control of their own fate, bearing in mind that their opponents managed 347 for 5 in successfully chasing down their target in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo