Ben Stokes pleased with England’s emphatic win over SA in Manchester

England beautifully redeemed themselves in the second Test against South Africa at Old Trafford after losing the series opener. The host were absolutely thrashed by Proteas in the first Test as they recorded a defeat by an innings and 12 runs. 

Ben Stokes smacks a century against South Africa (PC: Twitter)

It was a forgettable batting performance by Englishmen with scores of 165 and 149 runs across two innings.

However, they bounced back stronger in the second Test to settle the scores. England’s win by an innings and 85 runs has leveled the three-match series by 1-1. It was an all-round performance by Ben Stokes & Men as they excelled in all three facets of the game.

Ben Stokes hails his team for a comprehensive performance

Test skipper Ben Stokes looked extremely happy with the victory. The 31-year-old believes that they have set a benchmark and they need to keep up with the standards going forward.

Speaking in the post-match presentation, Stokes mentioned,

"Cricket is about how you bat, bowl, and field and I think that the way we batted, bowled, and fielded this whole game is like the benchmark of the standards of what we set. I think what we did incredibly well with the bat was assess that we didn't feel this was a wicket where we could go out and play in the way that we spoke about.”

A glance at England’s victory at Old Trafford

The captain led from the front in the Test to take his team home. While England were following the score of 151 runs in the second innings, Stokes smacked a much-needed century. Ben Foakes was the other centurion in the English team with a knock of 113. The two propelled England to a massive total of 415 runs.

Meanwhile, South Africa ended up with only 151 and 179 runs in their two batting innings. James Anderson was the pick of the bowler with six wickets across two innings. Stokes also looked decent as be scalped four wickets in total.

Also Read: James Anderson achieves an unprecedented record against South Africa