Joe Root believes his ninth Test century could turn out to be the finest of his international career provided England can forge ahead to claim the first-innings lead that would put the pressure back on South Africa.
Root’s unbeaten 106 from 131 balls lit up a pulsating second day on Friday, as his counterattacking stand of 111 runs in just 15.5 overs with Ben Stokes, 58, either side of tea took England from a perilous 91 for four to 238 for five when bad light brought an early close.
Trailing by 75 runs, the England vice-captain and Jonny Bairstow will resume their partnership of 36 on the third morning looking to push past South Africa’s 313 in the pursuit of a victory that would see the series claimed with a Test to spare.
Asked if this century went beyond his two against Australia during last summer’s Ashes win, Root replied: “Possibly but there’s going to have to be a lot of hard work to get a positive result. You’ll have to ask me at the end of the game to get a true reflection on it.
“They way we play from here will be crucial. We will have to build some strong partnerships to form some sort of a lead. If we can do that, it gives us a good chance to put South Africa under pressure.”
Asked what lead would suffice, Root replied: “I’d like a lead of 250 but it’s obviously whatever we can get. We need to tick off the small goals as we go.”
The 25-year-old brought up three figures here with a drilled four off the seamer Chris Morris and, after failing to convert five half-centuries since his previous Test hundred at Trent Bridge last August, admitted it was a weight off his shoulders.
“Yes, there was quite a lot of relief when I managed to get to three figures. It is about making sure you take opportunities and recently I have not managed to do that so now is the time to push on and make a big one.”
On the batting of Stokes, who continued the form from his record-breaking double-century at Cape Town, Root said: “Ben takes the pressure off you at the other end when he plays that way and that aggressively. The slips come out, there are men on the boundary and you can run well between the wickets because of those gaps available.
“Ben is not very talkative in the middle which is completely different to off the field. He is a great craic in the dressing room but when he is out there batting it is all about concentrating as much as possible. We saw that last week and hopefully that great form can continue because he is becoming a really strong player in Test cricket.”
Root needed treatment from the physio during his innings but played down any concerns over his fitness, adding: “You lot probably think I’m a bit of a drama queen but it was just a bit of cramp and I will be fine.”
Before the conclusion of South Africa’s first innings in the morning session, the England seamer Jimmy Anderson was thrown out of the attack following a third warning for running on the pitch by the umpire Aleem Dar.
The 33-year-old, who will be free to bowl in the third innings, remonstrated with Dar both at the time of the incident and when the players walked off at the change of innings, having been unaware of his second warning in the 94th over.
