Ben Cox was delighted to score a century in front of his family – and England selector Mike Newell – to help Worcestershire take control on day two of the LV = County Championship clash with Somerset at New Road.
Cox reached his second Championship hundred and a career best 109 and shared in a seventh wicket stand of 168 with Joe Leach (95) – a Worcestershire record for that wicket against Somerset.
It enabled Worcestershire to earn four batting points and earn a first innings lead of 152 as they reached 402 all out by the close of play.
Cox, who made his debut as a 17-year-old against Somerset in 2009, said: "It felt good. It felt good from ball one to be fair. I got a nice little drag down to start (from Peter Trego) and just went from there, a bit of momentum firstly with Giddo (Alex Gidman) and then with Leachy.
"That first run is nerve-wracking for everyone, just getting off the mark. To get one of my favourite shots straight away, and a little clip away, got me going.
"I got 40 odd at Hove last week and when you've got Tynan Mills bowling at that pace and you come back to New Road on a slowish wicket, it makes a massive difference.
"To be honest, I've felt good since Hove. I've just kept trying to do the same things I did down there, some technical things, and thank god it worked.
"The family were here as usual. It is nerve-wracking. I'm not sure how I feel about them coming but I'm glad I got some runs in front of them today.
"They have always supported me. It's just that I don't like failing and I don't want to fail in front of my parents. It's good to raise the bat in front of my family."
Cox had stated earlier that he felt a drop off in his form with the bat during the latter part of last season ended his chances of securing an England Lions spot last winter so he was delighted to reach three figures in front of Newell.
He said: "I just wanted to get a score like that early doors and a 40 odd not out at Sussex and a 100 here is good form to keep going now.
"Russell Evans (umpire) told me there was a selector (Mike Newell) here so it was a good day to get a hundred in front of someone that high up.
"I didn't know until I got a hundred, thank god!"
Cox was quick to praise the impact of Leach who followed up his three wickets on the opening day with a fine knock in his first Championship appearance of the season in place of the injured Gareth Andrew.
He said: "It was so funny. Joe was either hitting it out of the ground or just missing the ball and they were getting so annoyed with him, he was just laughing.
"It was quite good to bat with him because I had no pressure on myself to score because there were runs coming at the other end and he played fantastically. He really did take the game to them and it took the pressure off me.
"As soon as you lose a couple of quick wickets, you can almost go back into your shell.
"Luckily with Joe, and it is always the way, he tries to counter that, and he tries to put bat to ball and he scores quite quickly.
"It went his way and my way and we both came off with some runs."
As for Worcestershire's victory chances, Cox said: "It is going to be hard work getting the wickets. It is still a pretty good wicket.
"We've just got to bowl straight early tomorrow and hopefully the first hour at New Road will do as much as it usually does so hopefully we'll be in good shape tomorrow."
