Root century helps England post decent first innings total
Joe Root hit a thrilling century for England as he and Ben Stokes transformed the third Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Friday.
England were 238 for five when the threat of lightning brought an early close on the second day, 75 runs behind South Africa’s first innings total of 313.
Root was on 106 not out, his ninth Test century.
A fifth-wicket partnership of 111 in 78 minutes off 97 balls with Stokes (58) swung the match dramatically in England’s favour after a four-pronged South African pace attack had reduced the tourists to 91 for four.
Root and Stokes counter-attacked, posting a fifty partnership off only 35 balls in a match where the average scoring rate had hovered at around three an over on a pitch offering help to the fast bowlers.
“He takes the pressure off you,” Root said of the left-handed Stokes. “He comes in and plays aggressively, the slips come out and there are men on the boundary. You can run well between wickets because there all those gaps. Hopefully he can continue in the form he is in for the rest of the trip.”
Root reached the first half-century of the match off 77 balls with nine fours. He admitted that he struggled in the early stages of his innings against some high-quality pace bowling. “I was all over the place, my feet were going nowhere and I was just happy to get through to lunch.”
But the advent of Stokes brought a change in his own game. “When you see someone scoring at the other end like that and putting your opponents under pressure it brings that out in your own game.”
Stokes, who hit a dazzling 258 in the drawn second Test in Cape Town, got a hostile welcome from Morne Morkel, fending a bouncer off his glove for a single.