Ian Bell’s century ensured his England team-mates could sleep easy after the opening day of the Test series against West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua.
The 33-year-old right-hander rescued England from 34 for three with his 22nd Test hundred and, although Bell departed in the penultimate over of the day for 143, the tourists closed on 341 for five.
That was ‘position A’ as far as England's centurion was concerned, telling ecb.co.uk: “Today was exactly what we wanted. Obviously it was a tough start, I thought West Indies were outstanding this morning - first hour or two. They were brilliant.
“The wicket was a little bit tacky which did help the bowling side. We knew even if we won the toss and batted it was going to be hard up until lunch.”
England had needed Bell’s assured presence after West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin’s unexpected decision to bowl first was rewarded with three wickets inside the opening 75 minutes.
Bell set about recovering the damage in a 177-run partnership with Joe Root in a stand that took them through the evening session and effectively fatigued an attack boasting only four front-line bowlers.
While Root fell early in the final session of the day for 83, dragging on Kemar Roach, Bell and Ben Stokes were able to accelerate the scoring rate in a quickfire 130-run alliance.
It meant that even when Roach found Bell’s edge from the quick’s final ball, England had fought into a position from which they could look to dictate terms tomorrow.
“These wickets in the Caribbean, after lunch they dry out a little bit more and become good for batting,” said bell.
“It was nice to cash in and bat most of the day. It would have been nice to have been not out tomorrow morning but hopefully Stokesy and the lower order can get us a good score now.”
Stokes will resume on 71 and with the likes of Jos Buttler and Chris Jordan waiting their chance England have the firepower to push the game forward.
That England are in that position owes primarily to the stand between Bell and Root, who were forced to dig in for 40 minutes before lunch – when England were just 49 for three – as the hosts’ bowlers dominated.
Jonathan Trott was unable to survive the first over as he fell to a Jerome Taylor outswinger for a duck on his international return.
Alastair Cook was bowled off an inside-edge and Gary Ballance nicked to first slip as West Indies’ bowlers were rewarded for employing full lengths.
Slowly but surely Bell and Root turned the tide England’s way and Bell paid tribute to his younger partner.
“Joe's a busy cricketer, very smart - hits the gaps and what we were trying to do was be busy against the spinner and score as many runs as we could, and rotate the strike,” he said.
“That allowed us to put a bit more pressure back onto the West Indies. As we saw when Stokesy came in and play like he does, nice and fluently and I'm really happy for him today to come off with a 70 odd not out.
“It was exactly what we wanted.”
Bell admitted he had enjoyed returning to the five-day format after six months focusing on the World Cup.
“Test cricket is probably more suited to my style of play to an extent,” he said.
“To score a big hundred for England on day one of a series is always what you want to do.”