Pietersen and Bell came back after lunch and showed intent from the off, especially KP, who brought up his 50 with two successive sixes either side of spinner Nathan Lyon’s head.
Bell joined the party to force Clarke to give Lyon a rest – a win to the batsmen there against the bowler considered the key to success here for the Aussies after it was England’s Graeme Swann who five of their seven first inning wickets.
While the Australian bowlers remained tight, the enterprise of the batsmen was rewarded.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Pietersen, who was in fact out LBW at one point to Shane Watson had the Aussies been bold enough to review it.
With two successful reviews from 15 attempts so far in the series, Clarke’s confidence with sending a call upstairs isn’t high.
Pietersen had taken big strides forward and the ball swung late, but the video showed it would have collected leg stump.
A wicket was the least Watson deserved having bowled his 11 overs for just 14 runs and he let KP know it.
After an experiment with Steven Smith to try and break the best English partnership so far was met with loose rubbish, and Lyon had another unsuccessful run, the new ball was taken after 81 overs.
Ryan Harris and Mitchell Starc were handed the new pill and while it obliged with good swing and bounce, that didn’t translate to wickets.
Bell cruised to his half-century and the hundred partnership with the same shot in the over before tea.
As it stands, England have slowly but surely got themselves back into this game but still trail by 316 and need another 120 runs to avoid the follow-on.
After losing just two wickets this morning, KP and the series’ form batsmen Bell have pushed on though.
Australia will want to see the end of them asap as rain is predicted to interrupt the match tomorrow and will make bowling the 2-0 leaders out a second time when all they need is a draw to retain the Ashes.
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