Who is Dawid Malan? Batsman puts South Africa to the sword to make highest score by an England Twenty20 debutant

Dawid Malan left his first ball in international cricket, watching it out of the hand of Chris Morris and past his off stump. It was his last cautious act of the day. During his innings of 78 off 44 balls, Malan took apart one of the world’s best attacks, marking him out as one of the stars of the series and almost certainly earning him a tour of Australia and New Zealand in the winter.

Malan deposited his second ball into the stands over mid-wicket for six, and never looked back. He played the short ball exceptionally well, played two remarkable ramp-sweeps past fine leg and reached his half-century in just 31 balls. It was, by some distance, the highest ever score by an England player on his Twenty20 debut, and England’s 11th highest score of all time in the format.

Yet Malan has proved in domestic cricket that he is supremely capable of such innings. His first taste of fame came as an unknown 20-year-old for Middlesex in 2008, striding in at No 6 to hit a brilliant unbeaten century in the Twenty20 Cup quarter-final against a Lancashire attack containing Andrew Flintoff, Glen Chapple and Dominic Cork.

But he failed to kick on in the subsequent years, only fully realising his potential in the last couple of seasons. Last summer he hit 185 off 126 balls for England Lions, hauling himself to the fringes of the senior squad. Now, at 29, his time has finally come.

“He looks very relaxed,” said captain Eoin Morgan, who knows Malan well from their time at Middlesex. “He's been around a long time and scored a lot of runs at Middlesex in all three forms. We've given him an opportunity today, and part and parcel of him developing is taking that opportunity.”