STOKES’ CITY!
Brilliant Ben follows his first-innings century with some fiery bowling to leave England on the brink of victory
BEN STOKES flexed his muscles with bat and ball as England marched relentlessly towards what should be a hard-earned win on day five.
Two wickets in two balls from the fiery all rounder had the Oval rocking and for a moment it looked as though he would become the first player to take a Test match hat-trick at this famous old ground.
He removed Quinton de Kock with a gem of a yorker and then had skipper Faf du Plessis lbw without playing a shot, first ball.
It would have been the perfect way to cap the 100th Test celebrations here, but instead Temba Bavuma calmly dealt with the drama and continued to dig in with the bruised but resolute Dean Elgar.
“I tried to bowl the same ball I got Faf with and it’s amazing how often the hat-trick ball can be a bit rubbish,” said Stokes. “Amla and De Kock are probably the two players we look at as their main ones so it’s nice to get rid of them. “But they have two fighters at the crease so hopefully we can get rid of them. “I think we’ve left ourselves enough time and hopefully we can go on to win.” They need six more wickets from the final day as South Africa walked off 117-4, still 375 adrift of their target, but whether the Proteas’ pair can battle as hard on the final day after a good night’s rest for the England bowlers is another matter. Joe Root will have his work cut out too, rotating his bowlers and setting traps for batsmen to fall into. It will be an excellent early challenge for his captaincy which has been very good in this game. England have bossed this match by playing solid Test cricket with a touch of flair.
And as the only team who can win the match it would take a monumental effort to stop them.
Stokes has led the way throughout from his first innings hundred to a more carefree and explosive 31 in the hunt for quick
second-innings runs, alongside Jonny Bairstow, who made a brisk 63. “Me and Jonny knew we had to put the foot down,” added Stokes. “We always knew the target we wanted to be ahead when they started. “But there wasn’t really a massive plan until me and Jonny started to play some more aggressive shots.” Once England had set their target of 492, the vice captain tore in with skill and purpose to nudge 90
miles inswinging per yorkers hour as withhis party trick. Heino Kuhn had already been removed by Stuart Broad in a testing opening spell of bowling from him and James Anderson in helpful conditions. It took every ounce of fight and determination from Elgar and Hashim Amla not to be removed by the two experienced warhorses, with Keaton Jennings dropping the former when he had made just nine. How Anderson went wicketless on his 35th birthday is one of the great mysteries, but he will surely be happy with a couple of belated gifts from the Proteas today. Instead it was Toby Roland-Jones who again removed Amla, this time for five, before the man they call ‘the Dragon’ started breathing fire once again.