Hundred hero Duckett punishes New Zealand after Stokes sparks England revival

Ben Duckett scored his first century in over a year and Jacob Bethell banished his first-innings blues after returning England captain Ben Stokes sparked a fightback in the third and deciding Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.

England were 223-2 at stumps on Friday's second day, 215 runs behind New Zealand's first-innings 438, with the series level at 1-1.

Opening batsman Duckett made 113 to the delight of his sun-drenched Nottinghamshire home crowd.

Together with Bethell (74 not out) he shared a rapid second-wicket stand of 179 in 30 overs after Emilio Gay fell for a duck.

England's 8-1 should have become 8-2 when Duckett, responsible for all eight of those runs, edged Nathan Smith only for Henry Nicholls to drop a seemingly routine chance at third slip.

But England were also indebted to Stokes's latest inspirational bowling display as the Black Caps, seemingly set for a total in excess of 500 at 361-2, lost their last eight wickets for 77 runs.

The seamer led England's attack with 4-70 in 21 overs, a return that took him to 250 Test wickets, with the bulk of Stokes's success coming in a Friday-morning burst of 3-13 in eight overs.

Stokes was back in the side after being omitted from England's 253-run defeat in the second Test at the Oval for breaking a midnight curfew, along with team-mate Gus Atkinson, while celebrating at a London nightclub following the first-Test win over New Zealand at Lord's.

Stokes leads from the front 

It was Stokes, gaining movement beyond the reach of the rest of his attack, who had inspired an England recovery late on Thursday by dismissing Devon Conway (157) to end an opening stand of 317 with New Zealand captain Tom Latham (151).

On a day when temperatures reached a sweltering 36C, Stokes once more got the breakthrough England needed Friday when he had Daryl Mitchell (11) caught behind.

Stokes struck again when nightwatchman Will O'Rourke (19) skyed to point.

New Zealand were reduced to 413-7 when Stokes's well-directed bouncer left Mitchell Santner in a tangle, the ball ballooning to gully to give the all-rounder his 250th Test wicket.

Stokes is the only player other than retired South Africa great Jacques Kallis to score more than 7,000 runs, while also taking at least 250 wickets, in Test cricket.

After lunch, off-spinner Shoaib Bashir caught and bowled Smith and had Tom Blundell lbw for 30 before Jofra Archer pinned Ben Sears lbw for a golden duck to end the innings .

Duckett was quickly into his stride as New Zealand, without the injured Matt Henry, who took 11 wickets at the Oval and the in-form Kyle Jamieson, rested as a fitness precaution following repeated back trouble, were made to toil in soaring heat just as England had done before them.

New Zealand suffered further disruption when the recalled Blair Tickner, hit on the helmet by fast bowler Archer while batting, only managed three overs before being ruled out with concussion.

Tickner was replaced by fellow paceman Zak Foulkes, New Zealand's first concussion substitute in Test cricket.

The 31-year-old Duckett, whose fifty was his first in 11 months, was severe on both pace and spin.

Duckett square-drove Smith for four the ball after he was dropped by Nicholls and seized on anything loose from returning slow left-armer Santner.

A pulled four off fast bowler O'Rourke took him to 98 before a quick single completed an 88-ball century, including 18 boundaries, with the often reserved Duckett punching the air in delight after reaching his seventh hundred in 46 Tests.

Duckett was out shortly afterwards when he dragged on to Nathan Smith, but by then England were 187-2.

He was brilliantly supported by fellow left-hander Bethell, who arrived in Nottingham averaging a woeful 8.75 in the first innings of a Test match.

The 22-year-old made a mockery of that statistic during a 60-ball featuring eight fours as he too thrived in ideal batting conditions.