London, Aug 19: Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen put England in a commanding position on the second day of the Kennington Oval Test against India sharing a 350-run stand for the third wicket. England ended the day on a first innings score of 457 for the loss of three wickets. The weather held remarkably well through the day, providing excellent conditions for cricket after a rain-marred first day.

India had an excellent start to the day’s proceedings when Ishant Sharma induced an edge from Alastair Cook off the fifth delivery of the morning; the catch was comfortably taken by Virender Sehwag standing in the slip cordon. Cook had not added to his overnight score of 34.

India kept things pretty tight for the first hour with only 28 runs being scored in the first 14 overs of the day. That pressure probably led to Andrew Strauss’ downfall as the England captain chased a wide delivery from S Sreesanth only to edge it to wicketkeeper Dhoni who recorded his 197th dismissal in Tests.

From that point on, it was all England. Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen took the Indian attack apart with their batting skills. If Bell was deft and classy in his strokeplay, then Pietersen’s innings was more about power and brute force. Where Bell brought up his century just before tea, Pietersen reached his 19th Test century in the final session of the day’s play.

The Bell-Pietersen partnership also helped England up the scoring rate. Though the first session yielded just 51 runs (25.0 overs at a run-rate of 2.04), 170 came in the second (38.0 overs at a run-rate of 4.47) followed by 161 in the final session (34.0 overs at a run-rate of 4.74) of the day. Both batsmen also went past individual scores of 150 in the final session.

India, for their part, were guilty of failing to challenge the English pair. The visitors were unable to create any opportunities and bowled far too many loose deliveries after the opening hour in the first session. Amit MIshra and S Sreesanth, going at above four runs per over, were symptomatic of India’s bowling largesse on the day.

India managed to get some respite from the onslaught when Suresh Raina pulled off a caught and bowled opportunity to get rid of Pietersen a few overs before the end of day’s play. That wicket brought an end to Pietersen’s brisk 232-ball 175-run contribution for England.

At stumps, Bell (181*) and night watchman James Anderson (3*) were holding fort for England.

Brief scores at end of Day 2: England 1st innings 457/3in 123.0 overs(Ian Bell 181*, Kevin Pietersen 175, Ishant Sharma 1/81) .