Nottingham, Aug 2: Tim Bresnan, replacing injured pacer Chris Tremlett in the England side, gave one of his career’s best Test performances at Trent Bridge. Scoring 90 runs in the second innings, he also claimed a five-for that helped wrap up the Indian innings in a little over two sessions on Day 4 of the match.

The 26-year-old Yorshireman picked a total of seven wickets in the Test. Excerpts from a post-match interview.

On whether the day was a dream come true, given his performance with the bat and the ball

It’s the most [perfect] thing you are going to get. Nearly a hundred and a five-for in a Test match in one day, so it’s fantastic.

On his 90 runs in the second innings which could easily have been an hundred

First five-for and first Test hundred in one day would have been spectacular

On the competition between him and Stuart Broad and whether that is what keeps them both going

Yes, I think so. It’s definitely hard; the competition between us is fantastic. It’s fantastic for English cricket. We are all the same; the competition for place in our side is such that any one of [the] six people could play and bowl and do the job.

On his own batting and that of the other lower-order players

That is just the way cricket in general has gone for the last five, six, seven, eight years. The nine, ten in the game just roll over now; it means less fight for us bowlers.

On batting and bowling in good conditions. And whether the short-ball was a tactic planned against the Indians

It didn’t start [that way]. We identified something that we saw, so [decided] to keep going and see what happens and it paid off for us.

On whether he meant England had identified someone in particular

No one in particular. Most of the Indian guys were struggling with it so [we] thought of going ahead with it.

On whether his performance had created selection problems for the team management

It’s going to be tough to make that decision but it’s good for English cricket, the fact that we are stable now, [with] seamers and all-rounders that can come in and do the job.