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Wayne Rooney scored a second-half brace as England made it four wins out of four in World Cup qualifying Group 6 with a 3-1 victory in Belarus.

Steven Gerrard had given Fabio Capello's side an early lead in Minsk only for Pavel Sitko to equalise for the hosts midway through the first-half.

But Rooney poked home Emile Heskey's cross from the left, five minutes after the break, and then added a superb third after latching on to a Gerrard pass and finishing with aplomb.

For the second time in four days, England had produced a tepid opening 45 minutes.

The visitors had shown early promise with Rooney just inches away from prodding home a Theo Walcott cross from the right before the under-fire Gerrard gave England the lead with a goal reminiscent of so many he has scored for Liverpool.

The ball fell to the midfielder 25 yards out and he curled his shot past diving keeper Yury Zhevnov and into the bottom corner of the net.

Gerrard shot narrowly wide from long distance shortly after but the hosts had already signalled their intent with David James having to save a couple of fierce Dmitry Molosh efforts.

The Portsmouth keeper then had to deny Sitko and Vitali Kutusov before Bernd Stange's side got just rewards for their efforts.

Ihar Stasevich bought himself some time on the right-hand side of the penalty area with a neat trick to evade Wayne Bridge and his cross found Sitko who was left completely unmarked in the middle of the box to power a header past James.

England responded and Emile Heskey should have ended his international goal drought when he headed Frank Lampard's corner wide from close range and the Chelsea man - who was earlier the victim of a horror tackle by Anton Putsilo that should have earned the Belarus midfielder a red card - had a low drive well saved by Zhevnov.

Walcott, who failed to track Sitko for the goal, then had a shot saved by Zhevnov to conclude the opening period.

England came out after the interval a far better outfit and Rooney beat two men with a great run only to see his attempted curler into the bottom corner held by Zhevnov.

But he did strike shortly after as Heskey was afforded far too much space down the left and his cross was neatly poked home by the Manchester United striker from close range.

Capello replaced the ineffective Walcott and the tireless Heskey with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch respectively midway through the second-half and Rooney sealed the points with 16 minutes to go.

Rooney stepped over an infield pass from Bridge and then collected a crisp pass from Gerrard before drawing the defender into a challenge and lifting the ball over Zhevnov.

It took the 23-year-old's goal tally to five in the qualifying campaign and settled English nerves.

Gerrard should have added some gloss to the scoreline when he contrived to hit the post with the goal at his mercy late on but Capello will be delighted that his side continued their 100% start to the qualifying campaign and they lead the group by five points going into April's match with Ukraine at Wembley.

Croatia 4-0 Andorra

Two goals in each half gave Croatia a comfortable victory over Andorra in the other Group 6 game.

Tthe scoring was opened by midfielder Ivan Rakitic's superb 20-yard free-kick in the 16th minute.

Luka Modric had a 32nd-minute penalty saved by Jesus Alvarez after Victor Rodriguez's foul, but Ivica Olic slotted home the rebound to make it 2-0 at the break.

Modric poached a deflected cross from just inside the box to score the third on 75 minutes while Rakitic added his second from the penalty spot three minutes from time after Ildefons Lima's late tackle on Mario Mandzukic.

Lee Walker & / Reuters