After five years of waiting for his second chance at Test cricket James Tredwell was delighted to establish England’s commanding position in the series opener against West Indies in Antigua.
Tredwell’s crafty changes of flight and pace yielded him four wickets as West Indies were bowled out for 295 on day three.
And while England made a jittery start to their second innings – when Jerome Taylor rattled out openers Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott – they reached the close on 116 for threeand with a lead of 220 runs with two days to play.
For that Tredwell was due much praise, in his first Test since he made his debut against Bangladesh in 2010.
“I just tried to go for as fewer runs as possible,” a modest Tredwell told ecb.co.uk.
“Thankfully I picked up a few wickets along the way. Thankfully it got us a decent lead and we can hopefully build on that tomorrow.”
Tredwell’s innings-best figures were timely as they came at the same time it was confirmed that fit-again spinner Moeen Ali would join the squad ahead of the second Test in Grenada.
Tredwell will look to make sure any notion Moeen might walk straight back into the team is no certainty, with the 33-year-old set to be relied upon to try and bowl England to victory on the final day.
“There's a bit of an opportunity in this game (for me),” he said.
“Hopefully I've taken the first half of it but obviously I’ve got a bit more of a job to do and hopefully get a result in this match and then see what happens after that really.”
Tredwell began the day by fooling veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul into driving to Ben Stokes, one of two men at short cover, before his drift provoked a false shot from Jason Holder to end a frustrating 49-run seventh-wicket stand with centurion Jermaine Blackwood.
They were dismissals to reward the subtly of his variations, on a pitch that demanded the England bowlers remain patient to earn their rewards.
“I think we went through various different plans throughout the innings really,” Tredwell said.
“Obviously it was a pretty turgid wicket at times and to build some pressure was pretty key at one end and to attack from the other.
“So it's different plans along the way. Thankfully I got a few wickets along the way and we got a decent lead out of it.”
Gary Ballance and Joe Root will resume their unbroken 64-run stand in the morning after they steadied matters following Taylor’s impressive initial burst of pace and swing bowling.
Trott and Cook fell inside the opening seven overs, offering catches behind, before first-innings centurion Ian Bell was run out in a mix-up with Ballance.
Root’s arrival at the crease appeared to settle his fellow Yorkshireman and Tredwell thinks they will look to build their stand again in the morning before England start to think about declarations.
“I think to start well and do that bit well and build from there (tomorrow) will be the key,” Tredwell said.
“To lead by 200-odd at the end of the third day is a pretty strong position. If we can just cement that - at some point in the day that's when you can start to score a bit quicker as well.
“That lead can hopefully extend and then we can get to a point when we start thinking about trying to bowl them out.”