Pietersen completes his second hundred

South Zone 174 and 171 for 2 (Rao 88*, Sriram 78*) need another 330 runs to beat England A 377 and 297 for 8 dec (Pietersen 115)
Scorecard

Kevin Pietersen enhanced his claims for an England place, when he completes his qualification next summer, after picking up his second century of England A's Duleep Trophy game against South Zone.

Pietersen followed his first-innings 104 with a brutal 115 from 79 balls, as England declared their second innings on 297 for 8, a lead of exactly 500. By the close, South Zone had recovered from a dreadful start to reach 171 for 2, but England still remain favourites to complete their victory on tomorrow's final day.

England began the day in a healthy position, leading by 291 with seven wickets in hand, but they had added just one run to their total when Matt Prior was bowled by Sree Santh. But Pietersen found a staunch ally in Bilal Shafayat, whose 34 was his first innings of note since he was suspended for one match for dissent. The pair added 79 for the fifth wicket, before both men fell to South Zone's spinners - Pietersen was bowled by Sridharam Sriram and Shafayat was stumped off Sunil Joshi.

Graham Napier picked up where Pietersen had left off, cracking 64 not out to add to his first-innings 76, while England A's captain James Tredwell also impressed with 36. Joshi struck twice to remove Tredwell and Sajid Mahmood in quick succession, but the declaration soon followed with South Zone needing to bat out the rest of the match - or score an improbable 501 for victory.

That prospect looked extremely distant indeed when Mahmood and Simon Francis took the new ball. They each grabbed an opener apiece as South Zone slumped to 1 for 2, but Venugopal Rao and Sriram took the attack to England's attack. By the close they had added 170 for the third wicket, to leave the victory just about within their grasp.