SIR IAN BOTHAM hailed "king of the castle" Ben Stokes after seeing his record for England's fastest Test double-century broken by the Durham all-rounder.

Stokes took 163 balls to reach the landmark in the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, smashing Botham's mark of 220 against India in 1982.

Botham, summarising for Sky Sports, said: "It was magnificent, one of the best examples of Test cricket I've seen in a long time.

"Ben Stokes is box office. We knew he'd got it, and this is the tip of the iceberg. He'll get it wrong once in a while but he is a guy that wins matches, and they don't come along very often.

"(You feel like) you're just king of the castle. No boundary's big enough, no bowler's quick enough, it really is a moment to enjoy."

Stokes' onslaught brought him the second-fastest double-hundred in Test history - beaten only by New Zealand's Nathan Astle, from 153 balls against England in 2002.

He passed Virender Sehwag for second spot and former England coach David Lloyd evoked the Indian blaster's favourite mantra in summing up Stokes' innings.

"He's natural," Lloyd told Sky Sports News. "He just goes out there - 'see ball, hit ball'.

"Sometimes they're very correct, they dress nicely and they're very neat and tidy - this guy's a mongrel and he'll take them to the cleaners."

Jonathan Agnew, commentating for BBC Radio's Test Match Special programme, described it as "an innings no one here will ever forget. Absolutely astonishing."

His co-commentator, former England opener Geoffrey Boycott, added: "All those thousands of England supporters who've come out here for a bit of a holiday, a bit of sunshine, see some cricket - you've seen something special."

On Twitter, ex-England captain turned commentator Michael Vaughan compared Stokes to some of the greats.

He wrote: "So far this morning I have seen a bit of (Adam) Gilchrist and (Sir Garfield) Sobers mixed into Ben Stokes .....#SAvENG

"This is a 'I was there moment' .... Thank you @benstokes38 #SAvEng"

With Stokes' fellow redhead Jonny Bairstow closing on a century in an unbroken stand of 290 by lunch, Vaughan added: "I have decided being Ginger is pretty cool.... #SAvENG"

Paul Collingwood hailed his fellow Durham and England all-rounder, writing: "Doesn't get much better than that!! Got a bit of talent!Unbelievable @benstokes38 and what a place to do it #SAvENG #CapeTown"

County colleague Graham Onions summed the innings up most succinctly, writing: "STOKES"

The innings was described as "Shooting of the highest quality" by Herschelle Gibbs, the former South Africa batsman who hit 228 from 240 balls against Pakistan on the same ground in 2003.

And there was also praise from one of Test cricket's unlikeliest double-centurions - Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie, who achieved the feat as an Australia nightwatchman against Bangladesh in 2006 from a more sedate 425 balls.

"Our club has grown by one today," Gillespie wrote. "Well batted @benstokes38"