Bell Rings Up 199 As England Establish Their Domination

Brilliantly, relentlessly and at a commendable gallop, England continued to exert their authority over South Africa and delight a crowd buzzing with anticipation after the riches of the first day. If Thursday had belonged to Kevin Pietersen, however, yesterday was the day that Ian Bell - who over the course of eight and a quarter hours, came within a single run of his first Test double century, unquestionably the finest innings of his 40-match career - put the seal on his credentials to be called a serious player.

Stuart Broad also enhanced his burgeoning reputation as a considerable all-rounder with a beautifully judged innings of 76 that drove home the advantage established earlier. Silver linings have their clouds, however, for it was also the day that Paul Collingwood realized that when the game kicks you it does so where it really hurts. Collingwood's dismissal for seven came from a catch to short-leg off the slow bowling of Paul Harris, not one to relish had it come via inside edge. That it missed the bat by a distance, something that somehow eluded the umpire Billy Bowden, added injustice to injury. Collingwood's place might have been in jeopardy anyway but now it would be as well to leave him out on the basis that with his sort of luck there is little point in getting out of bed.

After Bell became the seventh batsman, and first Englishman to be dismissed for 199, a sharp return catch well taken by Harris as the batsman advanced down the pitch to hit through the on side, Michael Vaughan declared the England innings closed on 593 for eight, leaving 21 overs to have a tilt at South Africa's top order. Twenty deliveries were all they managed before the rain that had made regular appearances in the afternoon, returned with South Africa seven without loss. Already the visitors are in for a long, hard slog if they are to avoid defeat in the match but on a featherbed England will have to work equally hard to force a win.

Of late, it has been a characteristic of the Lord's pitch to play easier as the game progresses, making it harder to dismiss a side in the fourth innings at a time when there is generally wear and tear to exploit. If the South Africans misread the pitch, then so did England, but it may be that the best chance the seamers will have had in the match, unless the clouds roll in and the wind drops, will have been in the opening session. With this in mind, it may be that the key figure now comes not from the England pace trio but is Monty Panesar who will be able to bowl long spells with the backing of runs on the board.

Few favors have been done to South Africa either by the bowlers in general, who for some unaccountable reason have been encouraged to bowl full and straight to Bell, so prolific off his legs, when length outside off stump has always been his weakness, and for the most part, with the exception of Morne Morkel, have been wayward. There was also a concerted effort by Dale Steyn to bounce out Broad, a tactic that left the batsman untroubled except for one delivery that was shovelled just out of reach of short-leg. Pushing him back into his crease is not bad thing but Steyn, whose stock in trade to lower order has to be fast and full, failed to try even one yorker. If he is being compared with Waqar Younis for his strike power, then the resemblance ends there: Waqar would have been testing the toecaps.

Through all this Morkel has stood out as the one bowler to come to terms with the vagaries of the Lord's slope, which makes it all the more mystifying why Graeme Smith, unimpressive in the field with his own brand of retrospective captaincy, failed to use him for the first hour of play opting instead for the woefully out-of-sorts Makhaya Ntini, during which period England rattled up 79 runs without looking like losing a wicket. By the time Morkel appeared, Pietersen and Bell had bedded in once more and were running away.

To make an impact on the game it was imperative that South Africa threw aside the first-day jitters that afflicted much of their bowling and made early inroads to get at the lower order. Instead, Pietersen and Bell continued as if they had never left the crease, Bell reaching his eighth Test hundred and Pietersen his fourth score in excess of 150 before, ever more expansive, he attempted to pull Morkel's bouncer and instead feathered it to Mark Boucher.

The pair had added 286 for the fourth wicket, the highest for that wicket against South Africa and the fourth highest for England against anyone. Pietersen's 152, chanceless apart from the missed run-out before he had scored, and a sharp caught and bowled offered to Jaques Kallis when 133, had taken 20 minutes short of five hours with a six and 20 fours.

Collingwood came, dispatched a sumptuous pull shot to the square-leg boundary to tease himself and then went, muttering to himself, shortly to be followed by Tim Ambrose, for four, once more, surely casting doubt on further participation after this match. With three quick wickets, as happened on the first day, the innings may have subsided had Broad not batted with real panache, driving square of the wicket and down the ground, hitting 10 fours. The seventh wicket had produced 152.