Manchester: England extended their domination on day two of the second Test against South Africa on the back of brilliant centuries from captain Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes.

Bright start for South Africa

South Africa made a brilliant start to the day by getting rid of the two set batters early on. However, that was the only joy for the Proteas on the day as the rest of it was dominated by England.

Jonny Bairstow was the first to depart just one run short of a well-deserved fifty.

The in-form batter had no answer to the pace and reverse-swing of Anrich Nortje and only managed to edge to the first slip. Nortje made it two wickets in two overs by dismissing Zak Crawley who edged it to the gloves of Kyle Verreynne.

Stokes, Foakes put on a show

England were in a spot of bother having lost half their side for 147. However, captain Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes held the fort for the hosts and counter-attacked their way out of trouble.

They took the attack to Kagiso Rabada and Simon Harmer in consecutive overs with four boundaries, including a maximum from Stokes off the spinner. The pair thereafter mixed caution with aggression smartly and took England safely to lunch at 212/5 with a healthy lead of 61 runs.

The sixth-wicket vigil continued, with Stokes and Foakes opting to take the defensive route to avoid giving away wickets after the break. The skipper broke free with a six to get to his fifty and continued to milk runs with ease. Foakes was happy to play second fiddle as the partnership surpassed the 100-run mark.

Stokes converted his half-century into a hundred, his first the full-time Test captain. He fell soon trying to tonk the ball to the boundary but left the team with the lead of close to 200. Stuart Broad played a vintage, enterprising innings studded with boundaries before being stumped off the bowling of Harmer for a 14-ball 21.

Batting in his 80s, Foakes found the support of Ollie Robinson who got stuck at one end as the wicket-keeper batter got to the second Test ton of his career and the first one at home. England declared at the fall of Jack Leach’s wicket with a massive lead of 264 runs.

South Africa go unscathed

Put in to bat again, South Africa had to see off a tricky spell of nine overs before stumps. James Anderson troubled Sarel Erwee with a couple of lbw shouts but the Proteas opener survived, including an unsuccessful England review.

Elgar and Erwee managed to bat South Africa to safety without losing any wickets but will have a huge task on their hands tomorrow, still trailing by 241 runs.