Associated Press

Chester-le-Street, June 4:

Ian Bell hit his first Test century on Saturday, helping England to a 47-run lead over Bangladesh at the close on day two of the second cricket Test. England declared at 447/3 at lunch for a first-innings lead of 343 and may have expected to beat cricket’s weakest Test nation even faster than last week at Lord’s, where it won in less than 2 1/2 days. Bangladesh, however, rallied to 296 for eight — its third highest second-innings total in its 37 Tests.

The umpires granted England’s request for an extra half-hour’s play in an attempt to resolve the match, but Aftab Ahmed hit an unbeaten 61-ball 67 to delay his team’s defeat. “We’ve to come back tomorrow to finish the job,” England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff said. “I’ll bowl a couple more overs in the morning,” he added. Opener Javed Omar led the Bangladesh scoring with 71, before Geraint Jones took a catch off Steve Harmison’s bowling. Rajin Saleh managed 63 but was out leg before wicket to Flintoff.

Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard each took three wickets, while Gareth Batty got one. England began the day on 269/3, with Marcus Trescothick having scored a century for the second straight test against Bangladesh. England had bowled out Bangladesh before tea on Friday for 104. Warwickshire batsman Bell, whose highest score in his previous two tests was 70, scored an unbeaten 162 from 168 balls. Graham Thorpe, in his 100th test, scored 66 not out — his 39th Test half-century. At that point, the pair’s 187-run stand looked like it would lead to a win even more convincing than last week’s victory by an innings and 261 runs.