Amla, De Villiers defy England

Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow tore apart the South African bowling attack as they enjoyed a run feast at Newlands on a record-breaking second day of the second test, which led to England declaring their first innings on 629 for six.

Nathan Astle (New Zealand) off 159 balls: When Astle, left, came to the crease for the first Test against England at Christchurch in 2002, New Zealand were 298 runs shy of victory.

Sir Ian Botham described Ben Stokes as “box office” after seeing his record for England’s fastest double-ton extinguished in front of his very own eyes in Cape Town.

With Bairstow rotating the strike intelligently, reaching his seventh Test fifty off 69 balls, England added 60 runs in the first six overs and the rate barely slowed as the next seven overs brought 43 more runs.

Stokes’ 258 was the highest score for any batsman batting at No. 6 and his partnership with Bairstow was the highest sixth wicket partnership in Tests.

Although the Proteas are still 276 runs behind England’s first innings total of 629/6 declared, fifties from AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis (who was unbeaten at the end of the day) ensured that they ended day three having lost just a solitary wicket. – Fastest ever 250 in Test cricket. Stokes, on 74 overnight, needed just 12 balls on Sunday morning to get to his century, and continued to flay the South Africa bowling attack all over Newlands.

The second review came after De Villiers was initially given out for lbw off Stokes, but it was the wrong decision and the batsman survived, but only for a few more overs.

“But to lose just one wicket today is a huge win for us and hopefully a turning point”.

“When I looked at the board, we had a lot runs and I thought we were in good position anyway”. South Africa on the other hand got in Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Quinton de Kock in place of Kyle Abbott, Dale Steyn and JP Duminy respectively.

De Villiers has become the third-highest run-getter for South Africa in Tests, behind Jacques Kallis with 13206 runs in 165 matches and Graeme Smith with 9253 runs in 116 games.

“We’re massive favourites at the moment, we’re so many runs ahead”, said Stokes. Wenew he’d got it and this is the tip of the iceberg.