Andrew Flintoff said the wicket of West Indies captain Brian Lara had been the key to his first Test five-wicket haul as England dismissed the home side for 224 on day one of the third Test in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The Lancashire all rounder, who took centre stage as West Indies' last seven wickets fell for just 57, said: "I think Lara was the one.

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"It was nice to get (five wickets) and I think we needed it today as well. Lara and (Ramnaresh) Sarwan looked like they were going to get big scores, so it was pretty important."

In his 32nd Test, Flintoff took five wickets for only the second time in his first-class career and admitted that it had been a long time in coming.

"It's not for the want of trying. I try hard every time I go out there," he said.

Flintoff has been considered one of the unluckiest of England's bowlers and he was again the victim of dropped catches before finishing off the West Indies innings.

"That's cricket," he said. "Fielding in the slips is probably the hardest place to be on the field. I'm having a bit of a purple patch in catching them at the moment, but I've dropped some in my time."

Flintoff said England's entire pace attack should take credit for his haul.

"When you bowl behind someone like Harmy (Steve Harmison), it's great -- I think anyone in the world would like to do that at the moment."

"It's fantastic to bowl behind Harmy, Oggy (Matthew Hoggard) and (Simon) Jones -- and hopefully now we can get some runs tomorrow and cash in."

Despite a disappointing day, Lara remained optimistic about his side's chances.

"I think it's a very important day tomorrow. If we can get a couple of quick wickets then we can get back into the match," he said.

"The most important thing will be if we can keep their run-rate and total down.

"I thought the guys, Shiv (Chanderpaul) and Sarwan did really well to recover from the loss of two early wickets. A lot of credit must go to them.

"At tea, the aim was to lose only four wickets in the day but then it all fell apart again and we lost seven wickets."