England's lead to 346 in Ashes test

Australia v England, 4th Test, Melbourne, 2nd day

England 5 for 444 (Trott 141*, Cook 82, Prior 75*, Strauss 69, Pietersen 51, Siddle 3-58) lead Australia 98 by 346 runs

Jonathan Trott posted his third century in five Ashes Tests to propel England closer to a series victory in the fourth Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday.

The South African-born right-hander helped swell the lead to 346 runs after the tourists batted out the entire second day to take full advantage of Australia's record lowest total of 98 in 133 years of Ashes Tests at the famous ground.

Trott, who hit 119 on his debut in last year's fifth Ashes Test at The Oval, has proved to be a thorn for Australia in this series with an unbeaten 135 in the first Brisbane Test and Monday's hundred despite taking a painful blow to the knee.

England were 444 for five with Trott defiant on 141 and Matt Prior on 75 in a ground record unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 158 to kill off the Australians' hopes of salvaging the Test.

The pair eclipsed the previous English record wicket partnership at the MCG of 140 between "Patsy" Hendren and Maurice Leyland in 1928-29.

Andrew Strauss's team need to win only one of the remaining two Tests to retain the Ashes and capture their first series Down Under in 23 years.

Trott, who has now amassed 418 runs for the series at 104.5, had some luck along the way and needed a referral to avoid a tight run-out decision on 46, just beating home.

Smart....

England's first innings lead of 346 is their third highest in all Tests at the MCG. Their highest lead after batting second is 398 in 1912 while the highest lead after batting first is 279 in 1925.

The unbeaten 158 run partnership between Trott and Matthew Prior for the sixth wicket is the seventh highest for England against Australia and their second highest sixth wicket stand in Australia.

Jonathan Trott scored his third century against Australia and fifth overall. He has 1573 runs at an average of 62.92 from 29 innings with five centuries and five fifties.

Kevin Pietersen's wicket was the first one in the Test match that did not come by the way of a catch. 14 of 15 batsmen in the Test match have been out caught.

Peter Siddle was involved in all five dismissals, picking up three wickets and also taking the two catches off Mitchell Johnson's bowling.

Ben Hilfenhaus has had a very poor series picking up just two wickets for 283 runs at an average of 141.50.