Ben Stokes missed the start of this tour to make sure he could pick up the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award in person after a stellar 2019. Six days into 2020 the all-rounder looks like he is in the mood to hang on to that crown for another year.
Following a record-equalling five catches in South Africa’s first innings, Stokes pulverised the home bowlers during a remarkable 75-minute cameo in which 72 runs flowed from his bat in only 47 balls. Those who remark that this form of the game is boring or that it needs to be altered should have been at Newlands as, powered largely by Stokes’s brutal assault, England piled up 157 runs in a session comprising only 27 overs.
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