Kevin Pietersen's maiden Test double century put England in a dominant position on the second day of the second Test against West Indies here Saturday. His 226, the highest Test score by an England batsman for 17 years, was the centrepiece of the hosts' 570 for seven declared. Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Strauss), 2-91 (Cook), 3-254 (Vaughan), 4-316 (Collingwood), 5-329 (Bell), 6-489 (Prior), 7-570 (Pietersen)
At tea, West Indies were 66 for two - still needing a further 305 to avoid the follow-on target of 371 after Ryan Sidebottom had taken his first Test wickets to remove both openers. Devon Smith was 22 not out and Sylvester Joseph 13 not out.
West Indies' woes were compounded by the absence of captain Ramnaresh Sarwan from his usual No 4 spot after he was ruled unfit to bat following a shoulder injury while fielding Friday.
The tourists were already without senior batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, ruled out of this match with a right knee problem. Pietersen, who received good support from Matt Prior (75) in a sixth-wicket stand of 160, went to 200 with a two against Chris Gayle, the only spinner in an otherwise unthreatening all right-arm seam attack.
The South Africa-born batsman, fortunate to be stumped off a tight no-ball on 20, then lofted Gayle for six over long-off. In all he'd faced 262 balls in nearly seven hours at the crease with two sixes and 24 fours. Pietersen's was the highest Test score by an England player since Graham Gooch's 333 against India at Lord's in 1990.
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England 1st Innings (overnight: 366-5)
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A. Strauss c Ramdin b Powell 15
A. Cook lbw b Gayle 42
M. Vaughan c Morton b Taylor 103
K. Pietersen c Taylor b Bravo 226
P. Collingwood c Gayle b Collymore 29
I. Bell c Ramdin b Collymore 5
M. Prior b Powell 75
L. Plunkett not out 44
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Extras: (b1, lb15, w9, nb6) 31
Total: (7 wkts dec, 122.3 overs, 551 mins) 570
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Did not bat: S Harmison, R Sidebottom, M Panesar
Bowling: Powell 33-5-153-2 (1nb, 3w); Collymore 29-1-110-2 (2nb, 1w); Taylor 22-4-116-1 (1nb); Bravo 24.3-3-97-1 (1nb, 1w); Gayle 14-1-78-1 (1nb)
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West Indies 1st Innings
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C. Gayle lbw b Sidebottom 11
D. Ganga lbw b Sidebottom 5
D. Smith c Cook b Plunkett 26
S. Joseph c Strauss b Harmison 13
R. Morton c Prior b Harmison 5
D. Bravo b Sidebottom 23
D. Ramdin c Prior b Plunkett 6
D. Powell c Collingwood b Plunkett 8
J. Taylor not out 23
C. Collymore c Strauss b Sidebottom 3
R. Sarwan absent hurt
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Extras: (lb13, w4, nb6) 23
Total: (all out, 37 overs, 153 mins) 146
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Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Gayle), 2-23 (Ganga), 3-68 (Joseph), 4-74 (Smith), 5-82 (Morton), 6-94 (Ramdin), 7-114 (Powell), 8-124 (Bravo), 9-146 (Collymore)
Bowling: Sidebottom 12-2-42-4; Harmison 12-0-55-2 (3nb, 1w); Plunkett 12-1-35-3 (3nb, 3w); Panesar 1-0-1-0;
Toss: England
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Asad Rauf (PAK)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)
Match referee: Alan Hurst
(AUS).