England had another dominating outing against South Africa in the ongoing Port Elizabeth Test as they piled up a mammoth 499/9 (declared) in the first innings on Day 2.

Resuming their innings from 224/4, the visitors dominated the Proteas attack throughout the second day on the back of Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope’s sparkling centuries.

Stokes, who was unbeaten on 25 overnight, added 95 more runs before getting out while Pope played a glorious knock of 135 not out.

Although leg-spinner Keshav Maharaj (5 for 180) conceded quite a lot of runs, he was still the most successful bowler for South Africa in terms of wickets. It was his sixth five-wicket haul in the longest format.

Batting in the first innings, the hosts got off to a solid start with Dean Elgar and Pieter Malan adding 50 runs for the first wicket. However, after surviving the difficult phase, Proteas lost two wickets in quick succession.

Off-spinner Dominic Bess removed Malan (18) and Zubayr Hamza (10) to reduce South Africa to 60/2 at stumps on Day 2.

Brief Scores:

England 1st inns – 499/9 declared (Ollie Pope 135*; Ben Stokes 120; Keshav Maharaj 5/180) lead South Africa 1st inns – 60/2 (Dean Elgar 32*; Dominic Bess 2/12) by 439 runs at stumps on Day 2.