Gary Ballance suspects England will face a hard day’s graft on Friday if they are to win the first Test against West Indies in Antigua.
England require eight final-day wickets to go ahead in the series, but West Indies again revealed their dogged desire late on day four.
England had enjoyed an almost perfect day until the final session when they could only claim a single wicket, via a sensational Chris Jordan slip catch off Joe Root, as West Indies closed at98 for two.
“It's been a good day I think, it would have been nice to have had them three or four down but the wicket is a good wicket and it's going to be tough,” Ballance told ecb.co.uk.
“We knew it was going to be like that so we've got two wickets and eight more tomorrow would be perfect.
“It's going to be tough work but we've got a new ball coming after lunch so we'll make the most of that.”
England’s plans had run to schedule for the majority of day after Ballance hit his maiden Test century on foreign soil.
The left-hander reached his milestone shortly after lunch and celebrated it with a fist pump.
It underlined the importance of the innings to the 25-year-old after a difficult World Cup in which he was dropped from the side.
“Yeah it was very satisfying, like I've said before the winter wasn't ideal,” he said.
“But to come over here and get a hundred in my second innings of the tour is a massive boost.
“I'm very happy at the moment and also coming in during a tough session in the afternoon to get those runs and put us in a strong position going forward.”
Ballance arrived at the crease in the midst of Jerome Taylor’s impressive spell on Wednesday night and admitted he had been intent only on survival before the arrival of fellow Yorkshireman Root helped slowly draw him back into form.
“Yeah we had to weather the storm a bit yesterday afternoon,” he said.
“Rooty came in and he was positive as always and he played nicely and I was just a bit scratchy at the other end but I was happy doing that - just battling through and try to get through to the close of play with a not out and that's what happened.”
Ballance’s rewards awaited him as he blossomed, finding the middle of the bat with a couple of signature cut shots early on, before reaching his century with his 11th boundary down to ground off Sulieman Benn.
He eventually fell to the spinner in the deep for 122, but by that stage England were chasing the quick runs.
After Balance’s exitJos Buttler crunched a 47-ball half-century while there were cameos from Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan to allow Alastair Cook to declare 437 runs ahead before tea.
Stuart Broad then removed opener Kraigg Brathwaite with a well-aimed bouncer, that he fended to Root at short-leg, leaving English tails were up.
The mood was muted by an 83-run stand between Devon Smith and Darren Bravo after the interval until Jordan produced his magical moment late on after Cook turned to Root’s part-time spin for inspiration.
Root bowled it full, Bravo got a fine edge from a full-blooded drive and while Jordan would have seen the ball late, as it flew between him and Buttler, he reacted superbly to hold on one-handed as he dived away.
Root then almost struck again in his next over to remove Smith, unbeaten on 59, only for the ball to this time evade Jordan to the same side.
“That's what Rooty does he comes in and makes things happen,” Ballance said.
“And for Chris to take that catch at slip, he loves a one-hander and it's another special catch from him.”
VIDEO: a sensational catch from England's Chris Jordan to dismiss Darren Bravo! Watch here - http://t.co/H3z8uFAVWSpic.twitter.com/C1Ylxju6YD
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) April 16, 2015