Twitter Reactions: Pope, Stokes tons give England ascendancy

The second day of the Port Elizabeth Test belonged to England without a shred of a doubt. At the St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, South Africa had to work out of their skins. At the end of the day’s play, the home team is behind the eight-ball, trailing by 439 runs with eight wickets left in their first innings. It’s pretty evident that big partnerships is the way forward for Faf du Plessis and Co.

Pope and Stokes frustrate the Proteas

Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope held their ground on the first day after the visitors lost regular wickets. The duo carried on with the good work on the second day as well. Both played out the entire pre-lunch session, unscathed, taking the Brits’ score to 335. Prior to break, Stokes notched his century off 174 balls, but couldn’t stay put in the middle for long. Dane Paterson got rid of the big fish.

Stokes notched 120 with 12 fours and a couple of sixes and shared a 203-run stand with Pope. The latter went on to accomplish his maiden Test ton off 190 balls and also stayed unbeaten. After Stokes perished, Jos Buttler became Maharaj’s second victim. Sam Curran came out with intent and scored a quick-fire 50-ball 40 with six fours and a six. He also stitched a 59-run stand with Pope.

Maharaj gets a fifer

Curran gave Maharaj a caught and bowled to perish. A couple of overs later, Maharaj picked his fourth wicket in the form of Dominic Bess. The last-wicket partnership was all about Mark Wood. The number 11 threw the kitchen sink at everything to pile 42 off 23 balls with two four and five sixes. Pope and Wood added 73 runs and England declared with their score at 499/9 in 152 overs.

The South African made a breezy start. Dean Elgar (32*) and Pieter Malan (18) put their heads down for a 50-run stand off 12 overs. Dominic Bess used the DRS to good effect and nipped out Malan. The off-spinner accounted for Zubayr Hamza’s wicket to pile more agony for the Proteas. Anrich Nortje then came out as the night-watchman. Rain eventually came to the hosts’ rescue as they end on 60 for two.

Here is how Twitterati reacted to England’s domination:

61.14 – Ollie Pope’s ‘live’ First Class average – aged 22 from 36 matches (including this one).

Some talent this lad. #SAvENG 🏏 @snorton82 @kennybrown1964 @EastStandUpper

— HungryDuck 💙💛🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@LUFCPATRIOT69) January 17, 2020

Nasser Hussain made a great point. Nobody yesterday was talking about the Rabada celebration. Which seems to me indicates no one thought he did wrong. Except the ICC of course #SAvENG

— Sam (@SamBulik) January 17, 2020

That batting display should be the blueprint for @englandcricket – top four batting time, allowing the engine room to take advantage. Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope 👏🏼 #SAvENG

— Martin Strawson (@nitramjs) January 17, 2020

I could spend unacceptable amounts of time watching Mark Wood spells #SAvENG

— Fin Tungate (@FinTungateSport) January 17, 2020

Pope should have played consistently since his debut. Will be class player for @englandcricket ! #SAvENG

— James (@MrGrinchy) January 17, 2020

Stokes is ridiculous right now #SAvENG

— Phil McNamara (@Phil_McNamara) January 17, 2020

#SAvENG Really pleased for Ollie Pope getting his maiden 💯 👏🏻👏🏻 He's developing into a fine player in the middle order, and will surely only get better with more tests.

— Adam Staniforth (@adam_staniforth) January 17, 2020

Oh yes first Test 100 for Oli Pope.

First of many. #SAvENG

— Ashley Robins (@AshleyRobins1) January 17, 2020

Quickfire! #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/OyFTuXgybN

— Delhi Decoded (@DelhiDecoded) January 17, 2020

I'll try that again! @OPope32 …..magnificent!👏👏 #SAvENG @englandcricket @surreycricket

— Alan Butcher (@abutch58) January 17, 2020

Barring the rain at the end that couldn't have gone much better for England. Glorious runs from the Master and the young apprentice followed by wickets for Bess at one end with Wood scaring the pants off them at the other. Hard to believe it was England at times… 👏 #SAvENG

— Jonny (@Leathernwillow) January 17, 2020