Ben Foakes

Foakes carved out a different path on day two of the second LV= Test against South Africa, making 113 not out from 217 deliveries.

Stokes’ 12 Test century coincided with the release of a new documentary about his career. “To be honest, after my first 10 games I was kind of looking and thinking ‘jeez, how hard is Test cricket?’. So, yeah, it was tough out there and to be honest, there’s just a sense of relief. Attacking cricket is obviously what people expect, but once the ball got old, it was actually pretty difficult to score. “He said ‘let’s make it up and score where we can, let’s be busy, but don’t do anything stupid’. Sometimes I haven’t got the balance right because I guess I’m not an explosive batter.

Both men hit centuries and Stokes closed in on Brendon McCullum's record tally of Test sixes.

It was his second overall as he matched his predecessor in the wicketkeeping job: Jos Buttler, who was thought to have a greater ceiling as a batter. Here he was a useful foil in a 173-run union with Stokes before marshalling the tail en route to his first Test hundred at home. A captain’s innings balancing purpose and poise from Stokes lifted England firmly into the ascendancy.

England wicketkeeper admits he is still learning to pace innings batting at No. 7.

If I'm trying to get the score up I can start pushing at the ball and things like that and playing at balls I shouldn't be. "I haven't been lining it up as well as I'd like in the last couple of Championship games and then in the first one at Lord's. Since his debut, Foakes was either thrust in and out on a whim or missed out through injury, as happened at the start of 2021 when he tore his hamstring. "To be honest, in my first 10 games I was kind of looking and thinking 'jeez how hard is Test cricket'. "When you get on quite challenging wickets batting at seven, obviously there's a good chance you lose wickets quickly and you have to play a different way. "When I bat at five hundreds are definitely something I think about, but at seven I think more about just trying to contribute because obviously you're not going to get as many opportunities to get a hundred.

LAWRENCE BOOTH AT OLD TRAFFORD: As Ben Foakes walked out to bat barely half an hour into the second morning of this second Test, he would have been forgiven ...

It was the cue for the next phase of his innings: second fiddle to a virtuoso performance. For a while, the main feature of his innings was decisive footwork against the spinners, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer. It was skilful, ego-free batting, of the kind a captain remembers. Last summer, he missed out after slipping in his socks in the Oval dressing room and tearing a hamstring. Thanks to a bad back and Covid, he lost his place to Sam Billings. On a turning pitch, and with South Africa building their gameplan around the selection of two spinners, the advantage might have been theirs.

Ben Foakes admitted to being “relieved and overjoyed” after his first Test century in almost four years strengthened England's grip over South Africa at Old ...

“I’ve had a bit of stuff going on since I first played but I'm used to little setbacks like that.” When you get on quite challenging wickets batting at seven obviously there's a good chance you lose wickets quickly and you have to play a different way. "Getting a hundred obviously does that. “There’s just a sense of relief and I’m overjoyed really. “Obviously since since my debut a lot's gone on. But he has been in and out of the side since, losing his place first to Jonny Bairstow, then Jos Buttler.