Watch the second Test on Sky Sports Cricket from 7.30am on Friday
Thursday 2 January 2020 10:37, UK
Ben Stokes' list of headline acts lengthens by the year but none has been as savage as his assault on South Africa's attack in the early days of 2016.
Stokes' scintillating 258 over the first two days of the second Test in Cape Town remains as extraordinary an innings as I've ever seen, a masterpiece mixing precision strokeplay with bombastic, bewildering brutality.
I described it as "one of the most memorable and staggering salvos in Test history" at the time and it remains incredible even when weighed against the all-rounder's World Cup final and Ashes heroics at Headingley this summer.
Eleven sixes and 30 fours marmalized the Proteas - Stokes plundering the second-fastest double century of all time behind New Zealand's Nathan Astle, off 163 balls, and the quickest by an Englishman - finding a partner in Jonny Bairstow (150no off 191 balls) attuned to his withering onslaught.
The all-rounder had served notice of what might be coming - most noticeably in his hardy maiden hundred in Perth on England's humbling 5-0 Ashes defeat in 2013/14, and electrifyingly so in striking the fastest Test hundred ever witnessed at Lord's against New Zealand in the summer of 2015.
So the 20th Test of his career, the series-opening, Boxing Day Test at Durban which England won by 241 runs, was a let-down as Stokes contributed one wicket and 26 runs over two innings.
Come the new year, come the new man - arriving at the wicket on day one with England on 167-4 against a South Africa attack shorn of the services of Dale Steyn and Kyle Abbott.
A neat clip off leg-stump brought him his first boundary and Chris Morris was again on the receiving end once South Africa took the new ball - Stokes moving past fifty with four boundaries off the first five balls with the new conker before reaching stumps unbeaten on 74.
What followed on day two was pure box-office.
"We're on the motorway, drive time," said Sky Sports commentator David Lloyd as Stokes unfurled a succession of sumptuous strokes off Morne Morkel and Morris en route to his third Test century off 105 deliveries before truly stepping on the gas.
Together Stokes and Bairstow plundered 196 runs in the morning session alone - the highest ever by an England team in Tests and the second highest total before lunch by any team - with Stokes' contribution no less than a mammoth 130.
The milestone markers kept coming and going - Stokes bringing up his 150 with a straight six down the ground off spinner Dane Piedt and his double ton with a pulled four off Morkel, in so doing becoming the 10th man in history to score a double century batting at six in Test cricket.
Kagiso Rabada was despatched into the stands as Stokes brought up his 250 in style and the batsman kept swinging until it proved his downfall, which came in comical fashion - AB de Villiers advancing from mid-off to shell a skied shot before throwing down the stumps with Stokes ball-watching.
"Enjoy this moment, make it last forever," said Sir Ian Botham as Stokes departed with the scoreboard showing 622-6 and the sixth-wicket stand terminated at 399.
Alastair Cook might have declared then and there but allowed Bairstow the chance to register 150, which he duly did by smashing the very next ball from Rabada for six before trotting through for the all-important single.
At the point which Cook waved his batsmen in, England had amassed 312 runs in 38.5 overs on a breath-taking morning that surely none who watched it will ever forget.
Mike Atherton: "In terms of sustained hitting, the demolition of an entire attack, I haven't seen anything like it before. This was just brutal hitting."
Ian Botham: "When you're hitting it like he is, you're just king of the castle and everyone else should get out of your way; no boundary is big enough."
Ben Stokes: "It's complete instinct; I thought to myself what I was going to do and executed it the right way."
Jonny Bairstow: "It was probably the best day of my life, I reckon, and one I will never forget."
South Africa's Dean Elgar: "We were kind of shell-shocked by the way they were going. It was just a crazy day of cricket."
Watch the second Test between South Africa and England live on Sky Sports Cricket from 7.30am on Friday.
