Day 2: England dominate

Ian Bell was 100*
By Sam Hathaway
July 14 2006

England had another comfortable day today as they continued to mount the pressure on a poor Pakistan side. Paul Collingwood hit a career best 186 while under pressure Ian Bell managed a very good 100 not out.

Alastair Cook fell before lunch and the left hander was on 105 but couldn't keep his partnership going with Collingwood who went on to have another very good partnership with Warwickshire's Ian Bell. Collingwood eventually fell for 186 and walked off to a great reception.

At the end of the innings England were set to declare but Bell still hadn't got his century and fans favourite Panesar was in blocking to get Bell on strike. Bell eventually got the single and England declared on 528-9.

The bowlers got off to a slow start and both opening bowlers weren't hitting the right spots enough. Harmison did improve and ended up with 2-15 while Plunkett also was impressive with figures of 1-14.

Stand in captain Andrew Strauss was impressive with his field placements and has been popular on our message board. Although early days, it will be interesting to see if Flintoff can show the same captaincy skills in the next test match.