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Marcus Trescothick last night declared his third Test match hundred – his second against Sri Lanka and Muttiah Muralitharan – to be the most special among his 12 career first-class centuries for the presence of his mother and father.

The Somerset opener, whose brilliant 161 proved the foundation for a 200-plus England lead in the second Test at Edgbaston, said the innings was his first hundred in international or domestic cricket witnessed by his parents, Martyn and Lin.

"I felt I played pretty well and it was really special because it was the first hundred I've scored either in Tests or county cricket when my mum and dad have been here to see me play," he said. "When I went to see them afterwards, my dad was just over the moon." Trescothick's partnership of 202 for the second wicket with his fellow left-hander Mark Butcher enabled England to neutralise the threat of Muralitharan and assume complete control.

"It helped to have two left-handers against Murali," Trescothick said. "Left-handers have done well against him in the past. It took him a while to hit a good patch, although when he did we did not score particularly quickly. The pitch was very flat and slow and, while Murali was not ripping it square, the one that got Butch [Mark Butcher] seemed to turn a bit."

Having proved his defensive durability in his six-and-a-half hour century at Lord's in the first Test, Butcher revealed more recognisable qualities yesterday. The willingness of the Surrey left-hander to stifle his attacking instincts and play on the back foot was the remarkable feature of his Lord's epic.

Here, the reverse was true. Unlucky to encounter a ball from Muralitharan akin to Shane Warne's "Gatting ball" just six runs short of what would have been a deserved fifth Test hundred, he batted with considerable authority, prepared to be patient but taking the opportunity to unleash his trademark cover drive at every opportunity.

Reflecting on his Lord's innings, Butcher said: "It wasn't the most pleasing to the eye, but it was nice to be able to show I can play different types of innings. I tried to stifle myself as much as possible and in the end I probably played myself out of nick." Clearly, yesterday showed that this was not the case.