Sibley, who made his international debut against New Zealand in November, registered the three-figure score on the third day of the Test. Having gone to stumps unbeaten on 85 the day before, the 24-year-old found it hard to switch off ahead of the landmark.

“I slept terribly,” he said after the day’s play on Monday, January 6. “I went to sleep at 11 pm, woke up at 2 am, and just watched TV until the alarm went off at 7 am, but it’s all worth it now.

“I’ve dreamed millions of times about scoring a hundred for England, and that was better than I’d dreamed.”

“In this era of dashers and ever-decreasing attention spans, there’s something counter-intuitively kind of cool about blocking the hell out of it.”

Before Sibley made his Test debut, @Jo_Wisden wrote about his endearingly old-school approach to batting.https://t.co/p3lAb1IUAE

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 6, 2020

Stokes, who joined Sibley at the crease with England on 218-4, composed an excellent knock to take the pressure off the opener. The left-hander struck a 47-ball 72, taking the charge in a 92-run sixth-wicket partnership between the duo. In all, Stokes slammed seven fours and three sixes to take England past the 300-run mark.

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“Ben definitely took some pressure off me, those 15 runs felt like millions, but it meant I could take my time and wasn’t under pressure to score at a certain rate,” explained Sibley. “The ball striking and the shots he played, it was a pleasure to watch from the other end.

“It was a case of doing the right things on day three and setting the foundation for the guys to come in and give it a whack, so the hard work was done yesterday and the topping was today.”

Sibley remained unbeaten on 133 when England declared at 391-8. South Africa ended the day on 126-2, with Pieter Malan (63*) and Keshav Maharaj (2*) at the crease.