Stokes and Pope put dominant England in box seat

Cricket - South Africa v England - Third Test - St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa - January 17, 2020 England's Ben Stokes celebrates his century REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

PORT ELIZABETH (Reuters) - Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope both scored centuries as a dominant England took a firm grip on the third test against South Africa, declaring on 499 before reducing the hosts to 60 runs for two wickets at the close of the second day on Friday.

South Africa trail by 439 runs and will need to bat for much of the weekend to stay in the contest and avoid going 2-1 behind in the four-test series.