Malan guided England to a nine-wicket victory over South Africa at Newlands, scoring 99no from 47 balls including the winning run which occurred with 14 balls to spare, meaning he may have nursed his way to a century.
Instead, Malan reverted to claiming he simply got his maths wrong, as the English celebrating hauling down the Proteas’ score of 3-191 comfortably.
“I knew there were five left, but I didn’t know how it would go down if I turned down the single,” Malan said post-game.
“I knew I had to hit two sixes (when on 88) to win the game and get a hundred, I got a six and a four so I guess I didnt calculate that too well. I need to go back to maths class.”
Despite that, England were overjoyed with a 3-0 T20I series victory over the transitory Proteas, with the two sides to resume battle in three One Day Internationals starting on Friday at the same venue.
England captain Eoin Morgan said: “We need to put together an all-round game, we’ve progressed nicely, but as regards performance, striving for that collective performance is important.
“A large group of guys have been practicing 50-over for a week or so, a new challenge, a new set of goals, and a hard-fought series ahead.”
For South Africa, there were some positives despite the emphatic defeat, with Faf du Plessis scoring an unbeaten 52no from 37 balls alongside Rassie van der Dussen who blasted 74no from 32 deliveries in an unbroken 127-run fourth wicket stand.
Minus Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock’s side lacked any spark with the ball on a tough wicket, with Anrich Nortje managing their only wicket, dismissing Jason Roy for 16 in the fourth over to offer some early hope before Malan extinguished it alongside Jos Buttler (67no from 46).
“It’s disappointing, but they blew us away,” de Kock said. “They put our bowlers under a lot of pressure, played cleverly and we couldn’t stop them.
“We are not playing as badly as it is perceived to be, we are coming up against the English first-up and going forward the boys are confident.”