BENS DAZZLE IN PRIME TIME
Stokes stars and Foakes acts as the perfect foil
SOUTH AFRICA were left cursing a couple of good ‘okes’ who took command with a pair of stunning hundreds.
An ‘oke’ is South African slang for a guy or a dude, but the Bens – Stokes and Foakes – were far more than a rhyming match made in heaven.
Their 173-run sixth-wicket stand gave England control of a match they are must win to level the series.
It is all about the team but, on a personal note, a first Test century as captain gave Stokes the chance to salute the crowd and produce his familiar celebration of a bent finger in honour of his late father Ged.
How fitting that it came on the day when his Amazon Prime documentary – in which Ged explained how the injury came about – was released.
There was an air of inevitability about Stokes’ innings, as if he was already starting to put together content for the sequel.
By the time he fell for 103, playing his one rash shot, the pair had secured an impressive 169-run advantage.
And when Foakes walked off with 113 not out, that lead had ballooned to 264.
This was as dominant as England have been this summer, but in a different style to the frenetic thrashings they handed out in June and July.
Stokes toned down the gung-ho approach that has brought accusations of failing to do his quality with the bat justice. Instead, the fans were given a four-hour treat.
Stokes showed he remains as capable as any world-class batsman of adapting to any given situation.
When he arrived at the crease, Anrich Nortje was in the middle of another fearsome burst, having taken two wickets in seven balls and threatening to take hold of the game.
Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley had gone to leave England with two new men in the middle.
The game needed slowing down, not speeding up, and that is precisely what Stokes and Foakes did, trusting their defences to get in and giving themselves a chance before shifting the momentum.
As the captain said in his programme notes, “When we’ve got a bat in our hands it is our job to get on top and sometimes that might mean absorbing a bit of pressure.”
Stokes did just that before hitting the sort of straight drives off Lungi Ngidi that have become his hallmark – and then connected with the first of three big sixes.
It was precise, controlled and occasionally brutal.
But Stokes did not resort to reckless strokeplay until his eventual dismissal, when he slogged a ball from Kagiso Rabada to mid-off after being hit on the hip. At the other end, Foakes played in his own style, happy to soak up the pressure until the chance to attack arrived.
It secured the Surrey gloveman a first Test century on home soil, and also helped him become the first England wicketkeeper to score a hundred after an innings in the field since Matt Prior achieved the feat in 2013 – 117 Tests ago.
Precise, controlled and occasionally brutal