South Africa were left cursing a couple of good ‘okes’ who took control of the 2nd Test with a stunning pair of 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 though. Their 173 run partnership for the 6th wicket gave England control of a match they are desperate to win to even up the series.
It is all about the team of course, but on a personal note, a first Test hundred as England captain for Stokes gave him the chance to acknowledge the crowd and produce his now familiar celebration of a bent finger in honour of his late father Ged.
How fitting then that it came on the day in which his Amazon Prime documentary was released where Ged himself explains exactly how the injury came about. Call it serendipity if you like, but there was an air of inevitability about Stokes’ innings, as if he was already starting to put together the content for the sequel.
By the time skipper Stokes departed for 103, playing the one truly rash shot of his innings, they had taken England into the strongest of 169 run leads. And by the time Foakes walked off the field with 113 not out, that lead stood at 264 with England ready to hunt for their win.
This was as dominant as any day England have had so far this summer, but in a slightly different style to the frenetic thrashings in June and July. And for Stokes in particular he toned down his all out gung ho approach that has brought accusations of him failing to do his quality justice with the bat.
Instead fans were given a four hour treat here. And in any case this performance from Stokes sent just as powerful a message, showing that he remains as capable as any world class batsman of adapting to the situation.
When he arrived in the middle, Anrich Nortje was in the middle of another fearsome burst, taking two wickets in seven balls and threatening to take hold of the game. Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley had both 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 give themselves a chance before shifting the momentum. As Stokes 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 that before hitting the sort of straight drives off Lungi Ngidi that have become his hallmark and then connecting with the first of three sixes.
It was precise and controlled and occasionally brutal. But at no stage did Stokes resort to reckless strokeplay, until his eventual dismissal when he slogged the ball high to mid off after being hit in the hip.
At the other end, Foakes played in his own style, happy to soak up pressure until the chance arrived to attack, but he never left his own bubble. It meant not only a first Test hundred on home soil, but it made him the first England keeper to score a hundred after an innings in the field since Matt Prior in 2013, 117 Tests ago.
