Stewart "very pleased" on day of milestones

After stroking a brilliant hundred on the occasion of his one hundredth Test, England's Alec Stewart has admitted to being "very pleased" by his batting and by the events of a memorable second day of the Third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford.

Stewart's unbeaten 105 was undeniably perfectly timed and coincided not only with his own personal milestone - not to mention with nationwide celebrations marking the Queen Mother's hundredth birthday - but also allowed England to build to a position of immense strength at 196/3 in reply to West Indies' paltry 157.

"It's all tied in nicely. It's great, she (the Queen Mother) is brilliant and I'm very proud of the royal family. This was about the hundredth Test match and me playing well with Marcus Trescothick.

"The ovation I got was as good as I've ever heard, not for me but for any cricket ground. I'd like to thank the people of Manchester."

Although Stewart conceded that he had struggled through the early part of his innings, he was clearly of the view that his timing and placement had come close to the point of perfection through the closing stages of the day as he and debutant Marcus Trescothick (65*) shared a defining unbroken stand of 179 for the fourth wicket.

"Before tea I scratched around really. Courtney Walsh is an exceptional bowler and bowled very well to me and I was taking time to get back into my rhythm.

"But after tea I played very, very well, I timed the ball, picked most of the bad balls and hit them for four. I can't tell you if it's my best hundred, but I was very pleased."

"At 17/3, we were in a spot of bother. What gave me confidence was playing with Marcus in the one-day internationals. He's one of the few players I've played with who looks at home in international cricket straight away. I was able to let him play the way he did and I was able to play the way I generally play.

"Now we've got to go on and win the game to put the icing on the cake.

"To play in a hundredth Test and score a hundred and to have my name alongside those greats - (Colin) Cowdrey, (Javed) Miandad and (Gordon) Greenidge - is a good effort.

"You have some very good patches and go through bad patches. When you go through the good patches you try to stay in form. You don't take anything for granted; you know it's not going to last forever but while it's going well, you enjoy it.

"When you've finished the career, that's when you want to look back and see what you've achieved. To reach the 100-match Test milestone is a magnificent effort and one I'm very proud of.

"The important thing with me is that I believe in my own ability. As long as I know I'm doing my best I can't ask for any more.

"We've got to get stuck in again tomorrow. It's going to be harder and more important."