His fortunes contrasted with those of debutant Usman Khawaja, the 24-year-old left-hander displaying plenty of confidence before coming unstuck late on and top-edging a sweep off Graeme Swann to depart for 37.
The 40-year-old left-hander stuck out five over 6 1-3 innings in his longest outing oftheyear as the New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers 10-6 Saturday.
Malan struck the winning runs in the fourth over after lunch to reach his second hundred ofthe season - and it also took the 22-year-old left-hander to a healthy 400 Championship runs in five games this season.
The Surrey left-hander came back from a similar slump in the build-up to last year's tour of Australia to hit 116 at Brisbane but doubts remain over his suitability to open the attack when England meet South Africa in the First Test.
It turned out that all the 40-year-old left-hander needed to do was a make a couple of minor adjustments alter his arm angle ever so slightly, for one thing to get back on track.