Pietersen's dazzling ton puts England in command

Sri Lanka 4 for 0 and 275 (Jayawardene 105, Swann 4-75) trail England 352 for 4 (Pietersen 106*, Cook 94) by 181 runs

A century of great bravado, and not a little theatre, by Kevin Pietersen sharpened England's anticipation of their first Test win of a troubled winter as they took a first-innings lead of 185 runs in the second Test in Colombo.

Pietersen brought chaos to Sri Lanka's ranks with a potent combination of imperious strokeplay and impatient slogs. His 151 came from 165 balls with 16 fours and six sixes and was a flamboyant contradiction of the suspicious, attritional cricket that had gone before. As he struck 88 runs between lunch and tea to transform the game, he played pretty much as he pleased. "I probably played a bit one-day modish, but I feel as if I'm in very good form so why not," he said.

For Pietersen, it was all plain sailing. He had been riddled by doubt against Pakistan's spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, in the Test series, but Sri Lanka's slow bowlers - for all Herath's recovery -- were a grade below that class. When Suraj Randiv attempted an Ajmal-style doosra it pitched halfway down. He had a life on 82 when Dhammika Prasad deceived him with a slower ball but followed up with a slower attempt to catch.