Pietersen's reputation has grown in the sub-continent

Kevin Pietersen made his third century since arriving in India as England A closed on 308-7 on day one of their Duleep Trophy game against South Zone.

The Nottinghamshire batsman hit 104 and shared a fourth wicket stand of 143 with Matt Prior before he was caught off the final ball before tea.

Prior followed for 66 soon after the resumption as three wickets went down for two runs.

But Essex all-rounder Graham Napier steadied the innings with 43 not out.

The tourists went into the game with their strongest possible line-up as Lancashire paceman Sajid Mahmood returned to action after being rested for the four-day game against a Tamil Nadu XI.

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Scott Newman and Ed Smith launched their innings solidly, taking the score to 50 before Newman was run out for 31.

Lumb did not last long before he was caught off former Test player Sunil Joshi for one and Smith followed with the total on 98 when he was bowled by Narender Singh for 27.

England A were 99-3 at lunch but dominated the afternoon session as Pietersen and Prior adopted positive tactics to combat the spinners.

Pietersen eventually fell to Joshi, who was the pick of the home attack with figures of 3-88 from 32 overs.

The slow left-armer also trapped Prior lbw and when Bilal Shafayat went for a duck, England A were 244-6 and in danger of the innings going into freefall.

Their decline was halted by Napier and skipper James Tredwell, who put on 52 before Tredwell was out for 15.

South Zone: S Ramesh (capt), I Khaleel (wkt), Y Venugopal Rao, S B Joshi, S Sriram, N P Singh, B M Rowland, S Sharath, R Ramkumar, S Santh, S Badrinath.