Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith: “What a knock from Joe Root”.
Advertisement
The Yorkshireman kept his foot on the accelerator in an excellent display of timing, surging to his ninth Test ton with a picture-perfect cover drive before bad light and heavy rain stopped play at the Wanderers with England on 238-5, 75 runs behind.
Hardus Viljoen took a wicket with his first ball in test cricket as England lost openers Alastair Cook and Alex Hales cheaply to limp to lunch on 27 for two after dismissing South Africa for 313 on Friday.
Joe Root’s century has given England the upper hand in the third Test against the Proteas in Johannesburg.
The pair had made 111 off just 94 balls at a run-rate of over seven by the time Stokes was dismissed. While Stokes opted for brute power in his approach, Root stuck to exquisite technique and timed his strokes to absolute perfection.
On a testing pitch where batsmen were often uncomfortable, Root offered no real chances to the fielders apart from a near runout, when AB de Villiers swooped and threw at the stumps from mid-off with Root scrambling through for a single.
Asked if this century went beyond his two against Australia during last summer’s Ashes win, Root replied: “Possibly but there’s going to have to be a lot of hard work to get a positive result”.
It didn’t, and he made his way to three figures for the first time in five months, since his 130 against Australia in August.
But his increased willingness to play saw him push at one he might have left, feeding Dean Elgar at second slip.
Stokes finally wrapped up the innings 10.3 overs into the day, Morkel picking out first slip.
Kagiso Rabada took two for 31 as South Africa’s four-man pace attack – all bowling at more than 140kmh – reduced England to 91 for four.
“Ben is not very talkative in the middle which is completely different to off the field”.
Stokes will get some credit for setting the tone for the pair’s approach to the South African seam attack in the second and third sessions of the day.
The 25-year-old’s unbeaten 106 was the first time since 1964 that an England number four had scored a century in South Africa.
England reached 162 for four at tea, 151 runs behind South Africa’s first innings total of 313.
“They say things happen quickly when you make your debut and it definitely did”, Viljoen said. It flew past a bewildered Bavuma’s head.
Stokes came on in Anderson’s place and immediately ended South Africa’s resistance, limiting the Proteas to the lowest total in Test history by a side to feature 11 double-figure scores. Batting on 106 off 131 deliveries with 17 fours to his credit, Root would have surely aimed for another 50-odd runs off his bat in the next half-an-hour or so to take his side to within the 300-run mark.
Advertisement
Wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow took six catches and missed a chance to equal the world record of seven when he dropped last batsman Morkel.
