The fast bowler has endured a torrid time with injuries across the last three years and had not featured for England in any format since March 2021, before the white-ball series against the Proteas.
Archer managed just one wicket for 81 runs on his long-awaited return as England succumbed to a 27-run opening defeat on Friday in Bloemfontein.
The 27-year-old was rested as South Africa wrapped up the ODI series with a five-wicket win in the second encounter, but helped England avoid a 3-0 whitewash in the last clash.
He took 6-40, the third-best bowling figures for England in an ODI, as England cruised to a 59-run victory after Jos Buttler paved the way with a dominant 131 in the first innings.
"It is good being back. It has been a long road," Archer said after his maiden five-wicket haul in 50-over international cricket.
"This is a small tick but I want to see how I am in April, June, July and September.
"Being back after however many weeks, months it is kind of surreal. This is just the first series, there is loads of time to get the fine-tuning done."
A fearsome pace-bowling display reinvigorated memories of the 2019 Cricket World Cup victory and the Ashes series in the same year when Archer caused Australia problems with his aggressive style.
"He is like gold dust," former England captain Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports. "He is so valuable for English cricket and world cricket.
"What I took today, was not just his class and wicket-taking potential, but what I've missed is just the effortless grace he has."
Archer will head to the Indian Premier League to test his T20 credentials before returning to train for the upcoming Ashes series with Australia, which starts on June 16.
Former England captain Michael Atherton wants the star bowler to be managed carefully, though, with his previous injuries remaining a concern.
"Back and elbow are absolutely critical so there would have been some doubt there about whether he would get back," Atherton told Sky Sports.
"He's got some way to go yet to show he can do it across formats and then cope with an ever-demanding schedule but it was a wonderful day for him."
Stokes has announced he will bow out from the 50-over format on his home ground The Riverside on Tuesday, when England start a three-match series against South Africa.
The news came on the back of Stokes announcing he would sit out the T20s versus with Proteas and The Hundred with Northern Superchargers, following a dream start to his Test captaincy.
It follows ex-skipper Eoin Morgan's decision to retire from the international game, and leaves successor Jos Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott with another conundrum in the world champions' middle order.
Stokes said playing all three formats for his country was "unsustainable" for him and although former England skipper Hussain was taken aback by his announcement, he can understand it.
"It came as a surprise, to be honest," he wrote in his Sky Sports column. "To completely knock 50-over cricket on the head is a massive surprise.
"You thought he would be looked after, in terms of being rested from various white-ball tournaments and formats - he'd already announced he was going to miss white-ball series', and The Hundred.
"I guess it's the schedule. The cricketing schedule is absolutely crazy at the moment. If you just play in the one format - say Test matches - it's absolutely fine.
"But if you're a multi-format, multi-dimensional player, and even a Test match captain like Stokes, who throws himself into his job 100 per cent on and off the field, eventually something's going to have to give.
"For Ben, it is 50-over cricket, which is a real shame because he gave us and England fans their greatest day for a very long time in 2019, a day we'll never forget with that World Cup final win.
"He's a very bright, smart cricketer, he's a winner and he's a fighter."
McCullum has been tasked with fixing the failings in the five-day game of England, who will be captained by Stokes after Joe Root resigned in April following a run of one win in 17 Tests.
Former opener and now England men's managing director Rob Key has entrusted McCullum with the Test side despite all the 40-year-old's coaching experience coming within white-ball franchise cricket.
McCullum has coached Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders and their Caribbean Premier League affiliate Trinbago Knight Riders, but has playing experience in Test cricket with New Zealand.
Indeed, McCullum captained New Zealand's red-ball side through a transformative period and played in 101 Tests for his country.
Former England captain Hussain believes he and Stokes can take England in a different direction.
"It's a bold, brave, exciting decision," Hussain told Sky Sports.
"It's a little bit left field, I think most people expected maybe a Brendon McCullum type to come into the white-ball team and work with his mate Eoin Morgan and possibly somebody with more experience in red-ball cricket like a Gary Kirsten come in for the Test match format.
"But Rob Key sees it differently, I think both Stokes and McCullum are cut from the same cloth and Key has that sort of idea that he wants a positive captain and positive coach taking the team in a new direction and McCullum definitely fits that bill.
"That captain-coach relationship - they do have to sing off the same hymn sheet, they have to both constantly be working together.
"They also have to challenge each other, I'll be perfectly honest.
"It's not a case of Stokes and McCullum always agreeing with each other. It's also how you describe positive cricket really, it's not reckless cricket.
"I nearly picked Rob Key up on this the other day, he talked about brand of cricket, he wants England to play a positive brand of cricket.
"I think England fans and myself want to see England play a winning brand of cricket, however that's done, go out and start winning Test matches. If it is positive and exciting, double bonus. But winning is the most important thing.
"It's hugely exciting, to have Stokes as your captain, McCullum as your coach, it will be a very exciting few months and years ahead."
McCullum and Stokes' first task sees the pair host the country of their birth, New Zealand, in a three-Test series that starts on June 2.
That is the message from former England captain Michael Atherton, who was speaking after news circulated that Morgan is expected to announce his retirement on Tuesday.
Morgan has endured a tough spell with the bat in recent times, managing to pass 50 just once in his past eight ODI innings and failing to score in his last two outings against the Netherlands.
England have still won eight consecutive ODIs, their longest such winning streak since a sequence of the same length in 2017, but Morgan promised to step down when he was no longer contributing as a batter.
Vice-captain Jos Buttler appears poised to take the captaincy from Morgan, who has rejuvenated the white-ball fortunes of England since being appointed as skipper in 2014.
England won the Cricket World Cup in the 50-over format with a dramatic victory over New Zealand at Lord's in 2019, three years after reaching the World Twenty20 final.
Morgan's side also reached the T20 World Cup semi-finals in 2021, and Atherton believes the 35-year-old is making the right choice to step down with his legacy still intact.
"He created a one-day dynasty. Having taken over at a low point – the 2015 World Cup, which went badly – he decided it was time to change England's approach," Atherton told Sky Sports.
"For seven years, England have been as good at white-ball cricket as anybody. And that's the first time really you can say that about our one-day side.
"He will go down as one of England's most significant captains, but I think he has picked exactly the right time to go.
"He said the other day, 'I'm feeling old', and he told Middlesex he couldn't play two T20 games in succession. If you can't do that, how are you then going to captain in a World Cup when they come thick and fast?"
Morgan is set to retire as the all-time leading run-scorer for England in ODI and T20I cricket, with 6,957 and 2,458 runs respectively.
Having also played 23 ODIs for Ireland, his 225 ODIs and 115 T20s are England records for appearances, and Nasser Hussain says Matthew Mott's side will lose their greatest ever leader and a brilliant batter.
"I had an interview with Rob Key when Rob Key got the job, and I asked him about Eoin Morgan and the white-ball side," former England captain Hussain added.
"He said that one thing about Eoin Morgan is that he will always do what is best for the team. If he's not contributing to the team and if he feels him being out of the team is better for that team, then he will go. That will be the decision that Morgan is making.
"He has been short of form, short of fitness and there are other people now – there are so many white-ball batters who could be playing.
"It's not the 10 players he is taking on the field with him, it's in the one he's leaving behind because he's in that spot, and Morgan will always think of that one.
"One thing for certain is that he has been our greatest ever white-ball captain. He's a World Cup-winning captain, and he is a superb player.
"He was the one that was reverse-sweeping, reverse-scooping and playing all of these funky shots. He was way ahead of his time both as a player and as a captain."
England avenged a 10-wicket defeat to India in the opening ODI at The Oval with a resounding 100-run victory at Lord's, teeing up a series decider at Old Trafford.
Jos Buttler's side only managed 247 all out but Topley soon made sure of a one-sided contest, claiming the two early scalps of captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
The left-arm quick then bowled Suryakumar Yadav and had Mohamed Shami caught behind before wrapping up his five-for by removing Yuzvendra Chahal.
Fittingly, Topley capped a fine individual performance by sealing victory as he dismissed Prasidh Krishna, finishing with figures of 6-24.
That marked the best figures by a men's player in ODIs for England, surpassing the previous benchmark set by Paul Collingwood in 2005 against Bangladesh when he took 6-31.
Topley's six-wicket haul was achieved a stone's throw away from where he underwent surgery to overcome stress fractures that almost called an end to his playing career.
"It was a terrific team performance and I'm just happy to have played my part," Topley told Sky Sports as he was presented with the Player of the Match award.
"It means a lot and makes it all worthwhile. It was just over the stand where I had surgery three years ago, so it's come full circle, which is crazy.
"It's everyone's dream to play for England and I just want to pull on the shirt as often as possible and play my part in winning games for England."
Topley continues to boost his hopes of featuring in the T20 World Cup in Australia in November, having impressed in the three-match series against India earlier this month.
The 28-year-old was the only bowler on either side to finish with an economy rate below 7.5 as the runs flowed in the final T20I at Trent Bridge, owing to his relentless knack of hitting the right area.
Former England captain and TV pundit Nasser Hussain finds it hard to see another bowler displacing Topley in England's first-choice limited-overs XI.
"It's an outstanding story, the way he's gone through the ups and downs, the stress fractures," Hussain said.
"He's bowled well in white-ball cricket of late and as well in that T20 game at Trent Bridge when everyone else was going around the park.
"It's his place now and when you get figures like that, with so many big games coming up and England are looking at bowlers with a long list of injuries... if some bowler can stand up and continue to put in performance after performance then you're almost saying 'you can't leave me out'."
