Dawid Malan hailed a "batting masterclass" from Alastair Cook for helping him to a first major breakthrough in Test cricket.
Cook ground the West Indies down with a chanceless 243 on day two of England's inaugural day/night Test at Edgbaston, helping the hosts to establish a strong position before rain brought an early end to the final floodlit session.
The tourists took shelter at 44 for one in reply to 514 for eight declared, James Anderson with the solitary success and Malan relieved after making 65 alongside the country's record run-scorer.
"He gave me a batting masterclass," the Middlesex batsman said of Cook.
"It was the best seat in the house watching him bat and compose his innings. To score 243, whether it's a good wicket or not is a fantastic achievement.
"He didn't look like he strayed once from the first over of the game to the over he got out. For a young player at international standard to come and watch how a master goes at his work, to watch him compile his runs and be as disciplined as he was shows what you need to do to be successful at this level."
Malan's four previous Test innings against South Africa had yielded just 35 runs and the 29-year-old was well aware he needed to buck that trend sooner rather than later.
"I needed that to be fair, I didn't look like scoring a run against the South Africans," he said with disarming honesty.
"It was nice to hit a few in the middle and feel more composed at the crease. In the back of my mind I knew it would turn around so it was nice to have a meaningful contribution."
As well as grinding down the visiting attack and registering a 31st Test hundred, four of which converted into doubles, Cook also played his part in settling his junior partner.
"He's quite chatty," revealed Malan. "I've got a few habits I like to do in the middle and he was happy to go along with them to make me feel comfortable. He's a fantastic player and a great bloke as well."
Play will be begin half an hour earlier than the scheduled 2pm for the next three days in a response to Friday's downpour, which cost England the chance to bowl for an extended period in the helpful 'twilight' period.
Malan is, therefore, one of the few to have experienced those conditions in this country and he had a couple of observations.
"It definitely swung a lot more at night," he said.
"It felt like it happened a lot quicker under lights. I wouldn't have liked to face anyone with a lot of pace under the lights. But it's still a ball at the end of the day, if you watch it hard enough you should be able to hit it."
The West Indies remain outsiders to salvage something from the contest but spinner Roston Chase, who finished with four wickets after a barren first day, took heart from the way Kieran Powell and Kyle Hope battled to deny England a second scalp.
"The last session was a big boost for us," he said. "The guys were batting quite well and we were confident they would have batted to the end of play (before the rain came).
"We're looking forward to tomorrow. We weren't at our best on day one, I thought a little indisciplined, but we were better today."
Source: PA
