As Ben Duckett expertly guided Mitchell Santner’s delivery toward the leg side, he confidently called for a run. His determination was evident as he enthusiastically shouted “Yes!” before even crossing the crease.
Duckett’s century, scored under a bright sun and in front of packed stands at his home ground, was the perfect morale booster. It came at a crucial time for both him as an opener in search of form, and for a team keen on shifting the momentum in this extraordinary third Test match.
At the close of another hot day at Trent Bridge, England found themselves at 223 for two, trailing by 215. Jacob Bethell, not out on an impressive 74, built on the outstanding bowling efforts of Ben Stokes. Meanwhile, New Zealand were left pondering how an overnight score of 317 without loss had spiraled into uncertainty.
There’s still significant work ahead on a pitch that has posed challenges somewhere between frustrating and grueling for bowlers. Nevertheless, Duckett’s century—his first in 22 Test innings and his first score above 50 in 15 innings—has reignited England’s confidence that they can seize a series win in Nottingham, a victory that once seemed firmly within reach.
The day’s narrative might have taken a different direction if Henry Nicholls hadn’t dropped a straightforward catch at third slip, with Duckett on just eight, pressing forward against Nathan Smith. Only five balls earlier, Emilio Gay had edged a delivery off Will O’Rourke down the leg side and was caught behind for a duck. Had Nicholls held on, England would have been eight for two and still 430 runs behind.
But Duckett seized his sliding-doors moment with the impish aplomb of old. The next delivery disappeared through the covers, and he was up and away, punching square, pulling with ease, sweeping liberally. Though the thermometer read 36 degrees, he somehow managed to turn up the heat.
Ben Duckett is emotional after reaching his century at Trent Bridge on a fine day for England
Ben Stokes seized the initiative with a brilliant spell of bowling early on the third day
New Zealand’s bowling, it’s true, has enjoyed better days. Matt Henry, top of the Test rankings after his 11 wickets at The Oval, is missing with a calf injury, and Ben Sears playing only his third Test.
Blair Tickner managed just three overs before going off with concussion, having been hit on the head while batting by Jofra Archer, and was replaced by Zak Foulkes, winning only his sixth cap. Santner, meanwhile, was bowling his left-arm spin with the red ball for the time since last August. His eight overs cost 55.
Even so, England were in a hole, the runs had to be scored, and Duckett needed them more than anyone.
Since his match-winning 149 against India at Headingley last summer, his greatest contribution to the headlines had been his drunken night out in Noosa as the Ashes tour unravelled. Now, having foregone an IPL deal with Delhi Capitals to focus on his Test spot, he repaid the faith, moving to his seventh Test hundred from just 88 balls.
Smith got him in the end for 113, inducing a loose drag-on as Duckett opened the face to a ball that cramped him for room, but not before he and Bethell – at last making a first-innings contribution – had put on a thrilling 179 at a run a ball.
Their partnership roused the crowd as much as Stokes’s bowling had before lunch, when England picked up where they had left off the night before. Wickets with the last two balls of Thursday evening had left New Zealand 361 for four, turning a potentially disastrous first day into a merely poor one, but Stokes is rarely better than when he spies a glimmer.
In eight wholehearted overs, he had Daryl Mitchell caught behind on review for 11, nightwatchman O’Rourke miscuing a heave to backward point for a career-best 19, and Santner caught in the gully off his wristband for four as he tried to fend off something short and nasty.
Shoaib Bashir, with his first Test wickets in almost a year, and Archer completed a collapse of 10 for 121, but it was Stokes who had banged down the door in a game that, as much as the Ashes misadventure, may end up defining his captaincy.
The wicket of Santner was his 250th, making him only the second Test all-rounder, after South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, to combine that landmark with 7,000 runs.
Stokes it was, who – at 5.23 on the first evening, with his team facing ridicule – had made England’s first breakthrough. And Stokes it was who set about ensuring New Zealand became only the third Test team to be bowled out after starting with a triple-century opening stand.
He may have spent the last fortnight and more driving the ECB to distraction, adding uncertainty and farce to England’s miserable winter. But he is simultaneously English cricket’s firestarter and its likeliest means of putting the fire out.
There were one or two at Lord’s who had hoped his late-night jaunt to the Rex Rooms might spell the beginning of the end of his England career. Yet the first two days in Nottingham have confirmed that while the Test team at times seem unable to live with him, they most certainly cannot live without him.