a caught and bowled chance to Harbhajan Singh on 70 and an edge to Rahul Dravid at slip off the same bowler nine runs short of his century . . . in an innings which spanned six hours.

He reached three figures in the penultimate over of the day when he cut Harbhajan for four, a shot which provided the vast majority of his dozen boundaries. It needed some late acceleration for the Essex batsman to do so, having dropped anchor in a 124-run stand with Kevin Pietersen in which he contributed less than one quarter of the share. England closed 367 runs ahead on 297 for three thanks to a last-over assault by firstinnings centurion Paul Collingwood (36 not out) on Virender Sehwag in which he struck a six and a four.

Pietersen rode his luck, surviving a contentious television decision to power England towards a declaration. He was unbeaten on 36 when he jabbed down on a full delivery from wrist-spinner Anil Kumble, who claimed a return catch. Although the Indian team celebrated, Pietersen stood his ground and on-field umpires Ian Howell and Aleem Dar consulted before referring the incident to colleague Ivaturi Sivaram.

After numerous replays Sivaram decided he could not be sure whether Pietersen had trapped the ball into the pitch during the stroke and adjudged him not out. He was given another life immediately after bringing up his halfcentury when Sri Sreesanth dropped the simplest of chances, a skier off Kumble.

It was clear the 25-year-old was in a mood to cash in on his fortune as he refused to be affected by India's negative tactics. Faced with Kumble bowling around the wicket into the rough, Pietersen countered with some powerful sweep shots, one for six, before falling for 87 from a top edge.

That left England 221 for three, an overall lead of 291 runs, with more than 20 overs left on the penultimate day.

Pietersen's ability to find the boundary upped the scoring rate after England lost two wickets in quick succession . . .

opener Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell both nicked left-arm swing bowler Irfan Pathan to wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni in consecutive overs.

Strauss and Cook shared their second healthy stand of the contest, this time to the value of 95 runs in 33 overs.

They did not have to wait long for the chance to develop England's advantage after Matthew Hoggard finished India off in a hurry. Yorkshire swing merchant Hoggard struck with his fifth ball of the day when he trapped last man Sreesanth leg before to finish with figures of six for 57. India added only one run today, to be dismissed for 323.

England then prospered thanks to to some positive batting against the new ball.

Debutant Cook found gaps through the off-side to strike a couple of early boundaries while Strauss also cover drove two fours. There was a let-off for Cook, on six, when wicketkeeper Dhoni failed to hold a chance offered via a leg glance off Anil Kumble.

With the surface expected to encourage turn in the later stages of the contest, India captain Rahul Dravid employed spinners Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in tandem from the beginning of the 12th over. Although they stemmed the scoring rate somewhat, however, England still maintained a three-runper-over ratio.

Essex batsman Cook, who was flown in from the A tour of the West Indies as a late replacement, said of his 104 not out: "It is unbelievable. I know it is a cliche but it really is a dream come true. It was a great feeling when the ball went through for four. The rough came into it more with [Anil] Kumble but it was not as bad as I thought. It was slow and you have to be patient."