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Before the start of this deciding third Test against New Zealand, Brendon McCullum was overheard saying he was about to learn a fair bit about his England team.

After a Lord’s surface that saw seamers fishing with dynamite, and then the semi-skimmed XI selected for the Oval, no one quite knew whether a flat pitch would rekindle the aggressive batting of the previous four years, or if a winter of mixed messages from up top had stifled their ambitions.

On the second day in West Bridgford’s open-air sauna, after Ben Stokes led an almighty fightback to keep the tourists to a mere 438 all out, Ben Duckett provided his answer. A rapid-fire 113, allied with an unbeaten 74 from Jacob Bethell, helped propel England to 223 for two from 45 overs. England were still trailing by 215 overnight but now have a platform that should allow them to think big.

There was no question as to the moment of the day in the eyes of the sun-baked locals. At 5pm, having tucked Mitchell Santner into the on-side for a single, Duckett scampered off in celebration of his seventh Test century from only 88 balls and his first for nearly a year. The repeat punches of the air spoke of a player unburdened – and one perhaps feeling vindicated by their early season switch.

Duckett had been due to play in the Indian Premier League but after that poor Ashes tour, Noosa et al, he chose to rediscover his red-ball form with Nottinghamshire. Peter Moores, the former England coach who poured hours of his time into this refurb, will have drawn satisfaction from watching his opener back in the groove.

A couple of things went England’s way on the second day, it must be said. Had Henry Nicholls held on to a regulation catch at third slip, rather than snatch at it awkwardly, Duckett would have joined his opening partner, Emilio Gay, back in the air-conditioned dressing room before England had passed double figures.

And had Blair Tickner not endured dizzy spells after a nasty blow from Jofra Archer while batting, a New Zealand attack already diminished by the absences of Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson would not have been stretched to the point of Zak Foulkes, the last seamer in the box, coming on as a concussion sub.

Even so, after Gay was strangled down leg off Will O’Rourke for a duck, and Duckett’s fortunate escape, there was no looking back. He punched his very first ball from Nathan Smith through extra cover for four and then set about piercing the infield with increasing regularity to reach his half-century from 40 balls.

It was the Duckett of old – the pre-Mitchell Starc Duckett – as he turned Trent Bridge into his personal playground. Another Mitchell, Santner, toiled when the sweeps came out, as boundary riders threw themselves about in vain. Having looked so good at the Oval before being barbecued by Gay’s rash single, perhaps the life offered by Nicholls was simply the break Duckett needed.

At the other end Bethell took a look initially, in part due to the threat of O’Rourke’s pace and angle, and in part due to his efforts to stop his front foot triggering outside the line of the ball. But soon he too began to feel comfortable, with the two southpaws sharing a stand worth 179 runs in exactly 179 balls before Nathan Smith finally persuaded Duckett to chop on to his stumps.

Having cruised along at a fair lick, the loss of Duckett and the arrival of Joe Root slowed England’s scoring rate a touch. New Zealand’s reversion to the keeper-up ploy that caused them such bother at the Oval also played a part. But with Bethell and Root holding firm until the close – the former registering his first Test half-century in the first innings – New Zealand are the team with it all to do.

Perhaps they can look at England’s fightback, which in the context of the heat and this asphalt surface was pretty herculean. Having stared up at a scoreboard that read 317 for no loss on day one, the hosts claimed 10 wickets for 121 runs.

Stokes was central to the fightback. His figures of 80 for four, including a spell of eight overs, three for 13, before lunch, was a captain leading from the front. Bowling with verve and mixing up his angles, he was the man to finally end a 50-minute wait for the breakthrough. Daryl Mitchell didn’t think he had edged the ball behind on 11, only for a smart review to show there was a tickle.

Having finally prised out O’Rourke after more than an hour as nightwatchman – and a career-best 19 – Stokes soon produced a vicious short ball to bounce out Santner. There was a suggestion it had in fact flown off the arm guard but the TV umpire, Adrian Holdstock, felt it had brushed the wristband of his glove.

Either way, New Zealand had largely gone nowhere, adding 57 runs for the loss of three wickets before lunch. Shoaib Bashir and Archer then mopped up after the first interval, the former trapping Tom Blundell lbw for 33 from around the wicket and then snaffling a snatch return catch off Smith.

Even with Archer earning a ticking off from Stokes for not joining in with one of the wicket celebrations, England do look a side playing for their returning captain.