Pietersen flayed South Zone's bowling for a second time

Kevin Pietersen completed his second hundred of the game as England A took a commanding lead in their Duleep Trophy game against South Zone.

He followed his first innings 104 with 115 as they made 297-8 declared, giving them a lead of exactly 500.

Sajid Mahmood and Simon Francis took a wicket each with the new ball as South Zone were reduced to 1-2.

But the home side ended the day on 171-2 thanks to Venugopal Rao's 88 not out and 78 from Sridharan Sriram.

Resuming on 88-3, England A had only added a single to their total before Matt Prior was bowled by medium-pacer Sree Santh.

But Pietersen found a dependable ally in Notts team-mate Bilal Shafayat, who emerged from a lean spell by contributing 34 to a stand of 79.

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Spinners eventually accounted for both with Pietersen bowled by Sridharan Sriram and Shafayat stumped off Sunil Joshi.

Slow left-armer Joshi also dismissed Tredwell to end a 57-run partnership with Napier and then added the wicket of Sajid Mahmood for eight.

By then, however, Napier had reached his second fifty of the game, having made 76 in the first innings, and he was 64 not out when the declaration came.

England A pressed hom their advantage as Mahmood trapped Ibrahim Khaleel lbw for nought, and Barrington Rowland was bowled by Francis for one.

But Mahmood had to go off with an ankle problem after only one ball of his eighth over, and replacement Simon Jones came in for severe punishment, conceding 34 from 3.5 overs.

Tredwell rotated his bowlers at regular intervals in search of a further breakthrough but Rao and Sriram were equal to everything which came their way.

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.