In the third and final one-day international in Kimberley, England defeated South Africa by 59 runs to end their five-match losing streak. Before Jofra Archer made his return with impressive figures of 6 for 40 and helped the visitors avoid a whitewash, centuries from Jos Buttler (131 off 127) and Dawid Malan (118 off 114) helped the visitors recover from a precarious 14/3 and post 346, the highest ODI total at the venue. However, in order for South Africa to directly qualify for the World Cup later this year, they would have to rely on other results after the defeat.
In-form Temba Bavuma (35) and Reeza Hendricks (52) hit the right notes against the new ball to chase a challenging total. They added 49 runs before the captain of South Africa chipped Chris Woakes straight to mid-off. Rassie van der Dussen offered a catch to backward point after failing to get on top of an Archer delivery a few overs later. After that, a 50-run stand between Hendricks and Aiden Markram stabilized the ship, but Archer back struck with his extra bounce and killed Markram.
That brought Heinrich Klaasen to the plate, who scored the most runs with 80 from 62 balls and made important saves after Marco Jansen and David Miller were both run out of the game. Archer's bowling day was full of crucial breakthroughs and early breakups of partnerships. He foxed Miller with his speed and bowled Klaasen out, then returned to pick up two wickets in seven balls to end the game. Adil Rashid finished with figures of 3 for 68 as SA were bowled out for 287 in 44 overs. He took wickets of Hendricks, Sisanda Magala, and Jansen.
With the new ball, England faced a rampant Lungi Ngidi earlier when they were sent in to bat. In his first three overs, the tall pacer took three wickets. Jason Roy was the first to leave after chipping a straightforward catch to mid-off in the match's second over. Soon after, Ben Duckett pounced on the extra bounce and scored a goal for the keeper. Harry Brook, Ngidi's third victim, was defeated by an inside edge.
However, it was all one-way traffic once Buttler and Malan joined forces for the massive 232-run stand. When spin was introduced from both ends, the duo opened up on the other side of the drinks break, starting with the ones and twos that were available. Shamsi dropped Malan on 46 because he couldn't make a hard catch on the return, but other than that, the two players didn't do much.
Things really picked up after the 30th over, when there were as many as 61 runs in the next five overs. Malan gave Marco Jansen a shot, and he hit 6, 4, 6, and 6 off consecutive deliveries. In total, the spinners bowled only 12 overs, allowing 96 runs to be scored.
In the 41st over, Malan was hit by a Magala delivery that was slower, but Moeen Ali came back strong, hitting 2 fours and 4 sixes in his 23-ball 41. Ngidi finished with figures of 4 for 62 after accounting for him with an off-cutter. Buttler, on the other hand, stayed for a longer period of time and eventually broke through the ropes seven times before getting stuck in the deep against Jansen. However, the total between him and Moeen, which was 67 runs, was clearly sufficient for the day.
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