LONDON: Ben Stokes underlined his prowess as the rarest of all-round talents with his glorious century propelling England to a challenging total of 353 on the second day of the third Test against South Africa here at The Oval on Friday.

To cap a fine afternoon session for England, debutant Toby Roland-Jones, who had earlier hit a robust run-a-ball 25, struck with his 10th ball, having Dean Elgar caught behind and leaving South Africa 18-1 in reply at tea.

Not for the first time, Stokes proved the scourge of the Proteas, smashing two consecutive sixes to take him to his fifth Test century. He also struck his next delivery over the ropes before being the last man out for 112 from 153 balls.

Alastair Cook had earlier missed out on a 31st Test hundred, falling for 88, but with a magnificent counter-attack combining watchfulness and remarkable power, Stokes delivered the performance The Oval merited in its 100th Test.

There was a moment when, with Stokes on 91 and down to his last partner James Anderson, it appeared as if he was about to miss out on his richly-deserved ton.

Attempting to smash spinner Keshav Maharaj, he miscued, allowing Faf du Plessis to catch him on the long-on boundary. However, with momentum sending him tumbling backwards, the South African captain fell into the boundary markers and six was awarded much to the delight of a packed crowd.

Stokes celebrated by hoisting the next ball in the same direction, connecting perfectly as the ball sailed into the crowd to take him to three figures off 144 balls.

Stokes made it three sixes in a row over deep mid-wicket, the first time an England batsman had achieved the feat in a Test since Wally Hammond against New Zealand 84 years ago.

Stokes’s assault had echoes of his incredible double hundred against the South Africans in Cape Town last year but, going for one blow too many off Morne Morkel, he was caught by Kagiso Rabada.

Earlier, Cook, who had batted throughout the opening day to anchor his side’s struggle to an overnight 171 for four, added six runs before being trapped by Morkel.

The dismissal brought together Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, no strangers to putting the Proteas to the sword after their epic stand of 399 in Cape Town, and the pair again combined sweetly in a partnership of 75.

After South Africa had taken the second new ball, Bairstow was quickly snaffled for 36 but Stokes, who went past 2,000 runs in Tests, found another willing partner in Roland-Jones.

The touring side were again hampered by the absence of key paceman Vernon Philander, who, just as on Thursday, bowled well early on before having to leave the field feeling unwell.

The team later reported that Philander had gone to hospital for further tests because his stomach bug symptoms had worsened.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight: 171-4):

A. Cook lbw b Morkel 88
K. Jennings c Elgar b Philander 0
T. Westley c du Plessis b Morris 25
J. Root c de Kock b Philander 29
D. Malan b Rabada 1
B. Stokes c Rabada b Morkel 112
J. Bairstow c du Plessis b Rabada 36
M. Ali c de Kock b Morkel 16
T. Roland-Jones lbw b Maharaj 25
S. Broad c Amla b Rabada 3
J. Anderson not out 1

EXTRAS (B-7, LB-7, W-3) 17

TOTAL (all out, 103.2 overs) 353

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-64, 3-113, 4-120, 5-183, 6-258, 7-279, 8-316, 9-331.

BOWLING: Morkel 28.2-7-70-3; Philander 17-6-32-2 (1w); Rabada 26-4-85-3; Maharaj 15-1-61-1; Morris 17-1-91-1 (2w).

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):

D. Elgar c Bairstow b Roland-Jones 8
H. Kuhn not out 10

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for one wkt, 8.4 overs) 18

TO BAT: H. Amla, Q. de Kock, F. du Plessis, T. Bavuma, V. Philander, C. Morris, K. Maharaj, K. Rabada, M. Morkel.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-18.

BOWLING: Anderson 3-1-8-0; Broad 4-2-5-0; Roland-Jones 1.4-0-5-1.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017