Alastair Cook sparkled for England on the opening day against South Africa, saying being around great players "breeds confidence."
The England opener was the star of the show on the first day of the first Test match, with the 27-year-old scoring an impressive unbeaten ton to give his side the advantage.
Cook milked the South African bowling on his way to 114, as England ended the first day on 267 for three at the Oval.
England's one-day captain and Jonathan Trott (71) steadied the England ship after losing skipper Andrew Strauss in the first over, with a comfortable 170-run stand for the second wicket, as the South African bowlers went missing.
Cook carried on after Trott's dismissal, with another impressive partnership with Kevin Pietersen, before the latter's dismissal after a breezy 42.
The left-hander registered his first hundred in Tests, since his 294 against India at Edgbaston last summer, and his 20th overall, joining former captain Graham Gooch. "It was very satisfying," Cook said after the day's play.
"It's nice to join Goochie. Clearly he was a great player and to have the same amount of hundreds of him is very special.
"Every little landmark means something. I remember going from nine to 10 - and I think that was against South Africa as well (in Durban in 2009) -- and to go from 19 to 20 had the same kind of feeling, especially after waiting a while and getting close a couple of times.
"It's a very comforting feeling to look around and see players who have scored a lot of hundreds in our top order. That can breed confidence, but we always look at statistics after and when you're playing you don't worry about that kind of thing.
"Every hundred is a good hundred but I don't think I gave a chance today. I felt in total control and I thought I left the ball nicely."
Cook revealed an unusual preparation method, saying he spent the entire time before the series working on his farm. "I started at 10 o'clock in the morning the day after the Australia (one-day international) series and I didn't stop until pretty much Monday morning when we met up here," he explained.
"It seems to work alright. I had a couple of sessions with Goochie and his dog-stick (ball-throwing device) during that time. Any other time I was moving sheep or whatever!"
South Africa came into the series with a much-vaunted pace attack, which consisted the world no 1 bowler Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. However, apart from the sole success in the first over for Morkel, the South African bowling lacked teeth, and seemed to go into hiding once the pitch eased up considerably.
The Proteas bowling coach, Alan Donald, however, was reasonably satisfied with the performance. "I really thought we stuck to our task well today," the former tearaway quick said.
"We obviously got off to a great start with Strauss' wicket. There were times that I thought we could have been a little more aggressive in certain situations, but we never allowed England to run away with the day.
"I think it was pretty much a hard day's Test cricket. Take nothing away from England; I thought they batted really well and Alastair Cook showed immense discipline and concentration in how he left the ball. He made us come to him at times.
"We've got to make inroads tomorrow early. That's our big goal, to open up an end and carry it on from there. It's a huge day for us tomorrow."
