Stokes hits a century as England stays in control of 4th test, India 86-2 at tea

MANCHESTER, England (AP) – Ben Stokes scored his 14th test century as England ran up a 311-run innings lead in the fourth test against India on Saturday and moved closer to a series-clinching victory at Old Trafford.

At tea, India had rallied from 1-2 to 86-2, still 225 runs behind.

England captain Stokes had a brilliant all-round performance with his 141 coming after he’d taken five wickets in India’s first innings.

The hosts were all out for 669 in Manchester and followed that by quickly taking two wickets through Chris Woakes before lunch as India looked to find a way to salvage the match.

England remains in control after the 34-year-old Stokes enthralled the crowd with his spectacular batting – scoring his first test century in two years, including three sixes. After reaching his century, he took off his helmet, looked up to the sky and then raised his bat to acknowledge all ends of the crowd.

With his ton, he became the fourth different England player to get five wickets and a century in a test innings.

Having resumed on 544-7, England was determined to pile the pressure on India and Stokes was at the heart of it – supported by Liam Dawson (26) and Brydon Carse (47).

Stokes was eventually caught by Sai Sudharsan off Ravindra Jadeja, who finished the innings with four wickets.

The morning session could hardly have gone worse for India, which trails the five-match series 2-1.

Yashasvi Jaiswal went for a duck after just four balls of its second innings, caught by Joe Root off Woakes. And Woakes immediately struck again, to give himself a chance of a hat trick, when Sudharsan went for a golden duck when caught by Harry Brook.

India stabilized its innings with Shubman Gill hitting his fourth 50 of the series. At the end of a resilient second session, Gill 52 not out and KL Rahul 30 not out.