England closed day two on 223 for 2 at Trent Bridge, trailing New Zealand by 215 runs after the Black Caps were dismissed for 438 shortly after lunch.
Ben Duckett scored 113 from 98 balls on his home ground, hitting 18 boundaries in an innings that carried England's reply. The opener brought up his hundred off 88 balls after tea, reaching the milestone in 26.1 overs to post the second-quickest arrival at a century by any England batter from an innings opening. He added 179 runs with Jacob Bethell at almost 6 runs per over before Nathan Smith had him drag on. Bethell remained 74 not out alongside Joe Root on 21.
New Zealand's bowling attack was depleted when Blair Tickner was ruled out due to concussion. Tickner had been hit on the helmet by Jofra Archer while batting after lunch and delivered three costly overs prior to the tea interval before departing the field with nausea afterwards and failing to return. He was replaced by Zac Foulkes as a concussion substitute.
Duckett said scoring a century on his home ground was emotionally significant. "You can see making a century on my home ground means a lot to me. I was quite emotional and tried to take it all in," he said. The 113 was his seventh test century and first in just over a year. Duckett had chosen to forgo the Indian Premier League to work on his technique in county cricket following a poor Ashes series in Australia.
England wrapped up New Zealand's first innings after the Black Caps had resumed on 361 for 4. Ben Stokes took the wicket of Daryl Mitchell, who was caught behind for 11, to claim his 250th test wicket and finished with 4 for 70. The milestone positioned Stokes at ninth among England's all-time wicket takers.