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Ben Stokes has been the man for England whenever they needed to pull off something extraordinary. Today, it was Stokes again, who came to the rescue of his team and did what his team wanted him to do. He ripped through South African tail and handed his team, a much needed win. After being 1-0 behind, England defeated South Africa today in a thrilling encounter to level the test series.

Ben Stokes put on an all round show, first with the bat when he scored 72 runs of just 47 balls. England needed quick runs at that time and Stokes didn't disappoint them. He also took 6 catches in the match and 5 of them came in first innings alone. However, that was not it for the southpaw as he clinched last three wickets of South Africa and won the match for his side.

Earlier, South Africa started the day with the debutant, Pieter Malan and night watchman, Keshav Maharaj but the latter didn't last long and fell prey to James Anderson. Skipper, Faf du Plesis didn't last long either. Pieter Malan on his debut batted sensibly and his defense was solid. Anderson did trouble him with swing but he negotiated all other bowlers very well. He showed calmness and composure. He was undone by an angling delivery from Sam Curran which he edged only to be caught behind.

After losing the wicket of Malan, de Kock walked in with Dussen at the other end. That's when England began to drop their shoulders as they started rebuilding and looked very comfortable at the crease. De Kock went on to make a half century but lost his cool when he tried to pull a rank long-hop straight into the hands of James Anderson at mid-wicket. The fall of de Kock opened the gates at the other end and Stokes completed the formalities by getting rid of the tail. South Africa showed a lot of grit in the second innings as no one would have thought that they will take the match to the final hour of the day's play.

The two sides will now face each other at Port Elizabeth for the third test.

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