Wayne Rooney continued his fine run of form for England as they overcame a demanding hurdle in the Dinamo Stadium 3-1.

The Manchester United star took his tally to five goals in the last three internationals with two clinical second-half finishes for Fabio Capello's side.

It means that England have won their opening four games in a World Cup qualifying campaign for the first time, surpassing the trio of victories ahead of the 1958, 1986 and 1998 tournaments.

Capello had warned Belarus would provide England with one of their sternest tests after watching them in action three times against Argentina, Germany and Ukraine and his concerns proved justified in the first half.

They looked comfortable on the ball from the first whistle, with Vitaly Kutuzov and Pavel Sitko causing problems, and gave a searching examination to ring-rusty looking left-back Wayne Bridge who was deputising for the injured Ashley Cole.

But England wrestled the initiative away from them in the second 45 minutes once Rooney had restored their advantage,

Theo Walcott threatened to unlock the home rearguard with some trickery on the right flank before his eventual low cross only just eluded the run of Rooney who appealed in vain that he had been held back.

Then after 11 minutes Steven Gerrard's stunning strike temporarily silenced the passionate Belarus crowd.

Rooney battled away in typical fashion in the middle of the park to win the ball before laying it off for Gerrard and his fizzing first-time effort from 30 yards out curled past the dive of Alexander Kulchy into the corner of the net.

It was the Liverpool skipper's first competitive goal for his country since his brace 19 months ago in the European Championship qualifier with Andorra in Barcelona.

But, if England thought that would knock the stuffing out of Belarus, they were very much mistaken as their opponents engineered wave after wave of attacks.

David James found himself in the thick of the action on several occasions. Sitko twice found space outside the box to extend the Portsmouth keeper who also denied Dmitry Molosh from a similar distance.

Anton Putilo became the first player to be yellow-carded for a late challenge on Frank Lampard but, as the Belarus pressure started to grow, it came as no surprise when they equalised through Sitko after 28 minutes.

After putting together a move of around 20 passes, Vitaly Kutuzov and Igor Stasevich were the creators on the right with the latter checking back inside after Bridge had dived in.

He then had ample time to measure and float an inviting cross into the path of Sitko who gave James no chance with a close-range header.

But England needed only five minutes of the second half to regain the advantage through Rooney.

Heskey was the creator with a powerful run into the box which took him past the challenge of Sergei Omelyanchuk before he turned the ball across the box - and Rooney did the rest with a clinical close-range finish.

Belarus were now posing little of the threat of the first half and, with 15 minutes remaining, Rooney killed off the game as a contest with his second.

Bridge played the ball into Gerrard after a dummy from Rooney who was then well positioned to receive the ball from the midfielder before clipping it past Kulchy.

Gerrard should have made it 4-1 in the closing stages but he hit the post with the goal at his mercy after rounding Kulchy.