Manchester: Alastair Cook and Ian Bell scored their second successive Test centuries on Friday as England led Pakistan by 330 runs at stumps on the second day of the second Test.
England declared on 461-9 -- in reply to the visitors' first-innings of 119 -- in the hosts' highest score against Pakistan at Old Trafford, surpassing the 447 it made in 1987.
With four overs left in the day to negotiate, Pakistan was 12-0 with Kamran Akmal not out on two and Imran Farhat unbeaten on nine at the close.
Earlier, Cook had hit 18 fours and batted for 340 minutes for 127 -- his third Test ton after scoring 105 in the drawn first Test against Pakistan at Lord's, and an unbeaten 104 on debut against India at Nagpur in March.
The 21-year-old, who is averaging over 50, also has two half-centuries in just seven Tests.
Bell collected 13 fours and one six from 135 balls to be unbeaten on 106. It was his fourth Test century and comes after scoring 100 not out at Lord's. He also hit 115 at Pakistan in Faisalabad last November.
England, aiming to win its first Test series at home against Pakistan in 24 years, scored 293 runs in the three sessions for the loss of seven wickets.
It had resumed on 168-2, but Kevin Pietersen was out just one run and three balls later.
He was caught by Farhat at gully after slashing at a wide delivery from Umar Gul without adding to his overnight score of 38. He had hit five fours and added 74 runs from 128 balls with Cook.
In the 70th over, Paul Collingwood and Cook reached their fifty partnership when Collingwood hit a ball from Danish Kaneria for six -- a shot that also established England's lead as exactly 100 runs.
Collingwood, who hit 186 at Lord's last week, repeated the same stroke off Kaneria two overs later. The batting pair had also taken 12 runs from Abdul Razzaq's intervening over.
Cook and Collingwood steered England to lunch at 272-3, adding 104 runs in the session.
Collingwood survived a confident lbw shout from Mohammad Sami in the eighth over after lunch. But next over --on the sixth delivery with the new ball -- he was caught by Sami at square leg on a short ball from Umar Gul for 48 with England at 288-4.
Collingwood shared a partnership of 119 with Cook.
Four overs and 16 runs later, Gul had his third wicket of the innings, trapping Cook lbw for 127 to a ball that may have been going over the top.
Geraint Jones, who is under pressure for his wicketkeeping spot from Chris Read, hooked a ball for six, was hit on the gloves next ball, and then out lbw for 8 on the following ball in an eventful over from Sami.
Bell and Test debutant Sajid Mahmood added 36 runs, before Mahmood spooned a return catch on 12 to Razzaq just before tea. England had added only 85 runs in the second session.
After tea, Bell hit Razzaq for boundaries through point and cover in the 107th over that brought his fifty in just 61 balls.
Matthew Hoggard was lbw on six not playing a shot to an arm-ball from Shahid Afridi. His dismissal put England at 384-8.
Steve Harmison, who took six for 19 in Pakistan's first innings, supported Bell until he'd reached his ton -- but was caught by Kamran Akmal off Kaneria hitting a reverse sweep to leave England on 457-9.
He had hit 26 and added 73 runs with Bell for the ninth wicket.
Monty Panesar was unbeaten on three when captain Andrew Strauss declared.
Gul was the best bowler with 3-96, Razzaq had 2-72 and Sami 2-92.
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