Stokes relishes once-in-a-lifetime knock

England all-rounder Ben Stokes says he may never play an innings like the one he did on Sunday at Newlands, saying his blistering double century exploits against South Africa still feels unreal.

Stokes made 258 as England recorded 629/6 in well under two days. He started day two on 74, and scored 130 runs in the morning session alone. His stand of 399 with Jonny Bairstow was the highest for the sixth wicket in Tests.

Stokes said after his innings: "I probably won't play like this ever again in my life whilst playing cricket, but I've done it once so at least I can say that.

"I normally say 'crikey' when I get to 30, to be honest, so I kept on looking at the scoreboard.

"I felt a little bit of pressure coming into the game, having not got many runs under my belt before this, so there was a lot more emotion than I normally show when I got to the hundred but I just tried to keep on going.

"It hasn't quite sunk in yet."

When asked about his tactics, Stokes said it was not very complicated: "It was 'see ball, hit ball', I guess.

"I wasn't thinking of any landmarks as I went along, I was just trying to hit as many boundaries as I could because it was too hot to run."

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