Gary Ballance believes that his second Lord's century of the summer has given England the platform from which they can win the second Test against India.
The left-hander made 110 to add to his ton against Sri Lanka at the Home of Cricket in June as England closed day two on 219-6, 76 runs adrift of the tourists.
Ballance and Moeen Ali were both dismissed shortly before the close of play, but the Yorkshire batsman has insisted that the hosts' lower order can steer them to a first-innings lead on a "good pitch".
He told Sky Sports News: "It's a great place to play cricket and it's gone well this season. It was quite a tough pitch this morning but once you got in, it was a good day to score runs.
"We lost a few wickets early on and to be fair they bowled well, but [Ian Bell] and I tried to hang in and scrap, thinking 'hopefully the runs will come later on' and they did.
"It's still a good pitch and if we can keep them in the field a bit longer we can get a good lead."
It was the third time that Ballance had reached three figures at Lord's this season, after he made 130 for Yorkshire against Middlesex in County Championship Division One action.
Joe Fish
