Records Galore in Eng-SA 2nd Test at Cape Town

The Eng-SA second test has begun and as we are barely into the last session of the second day the writing is clear on the wall. South Africa have been thrown around the park like a rookie team and have no hold whatsoever on the game. They have been made to look like outsiders on their own turf courtesy a superlative effort by Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow. Here is the list of records that are broken by Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow courtesy their scintillating knock

Stokes’ double hundred which came off just 163 deliveries is the second fastest double hundred in the history of test cricket. It is also the fastest double hundred by an Englishman surpassing the record of Sir Ian Botham who got there in just 220 deliveries. Clearly its quite a remarkable achievement by someone who has had the tag of an ‘overrated player’ around him.

Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow now hold the record for the highest partnership ever for the sixth wicket in test cricket. They added 399 runs for the sixth wicket before stokes was dismissed for 253. The previous best was by Kane Williamson and BJ Watling when they had an unbeaten partnership of 365 runs against Sri Lanka in 2015. This is also the fastest partnership to reach 300 runs beating Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid.

Ben Stokes now also holds the record for the fastest 250 in history of test cricket. He got there in just 196 balls with 30 fours and 9 sixes. He broke Virender Sehwag’s record of fastest 250 of 207 balls.

The maximum number of runs scored by any batsman in a pre-lunch session is now held by Ben Stokes. He smashed 130 runs in the pre lunch session breaking Les Ames record of 123 runs (made in 1935). Needless to day, he gave no respect for the prolific south African bowling attack.

The other notable records set or rather broken by Ven stokes and the English team are:

• Highest score by an English Batsman at Newlands, Cape Town surpassing Graeme Hick’s 178.
• Most sixes by an English batsman(11)
• Second highest score at Newlands, Cape town.