Ben Duckett credited an intensive fitness regime that enabled him to lose 6kg in a month, as he ended a year-long wait for an international century to drag England back into the deciding third Test.
Duckett reached his hundred in just 88 balls, and celebrated by punching the air and kissing the England badge on his helmet. It was his second Test century at his home ground, Trent Bridge, and he said that he felt "quite emotional" on reaching three figures after a enduring a tough year in international cricket.
Temperatures in Nottingham reached 34 degrees with high humidity on a sweltering day, the second-hottest in English Test history, according to Sky Sports. But having spent more than nine hours in the field across the first day-and-a-half, Duckett said that he had felt the benefits of his weight loss as he raced to 113 off 99 balls, adding 179 in partnership with Jacob Bethell.
"I'm sure it did [help]," Duckett said. "I've done a lot of work: not loads on my game - just tweaked a few things here and there - but I've certainly been doing a lot of fitness since I've come back from the winter and maybe got the rewards today in the heat. It's been a good block for me to refresh after a tough winter, and I'm extremely happy with how things went today."
Duckett was able to spend a month working exclusively on his fitness after withdrawing from the IPL at short notice. His decision frustrated his franchise, Delhi Capitals, and earned him a two-year ban from the league, but provided him with the sort of break from the game that is rare for England players who feature in all three formats.
His hundred on Friday was his first since he made 149 against India last June, but his runs had since dried up across formats. He was quietly dropped from England's T20 squad earlier this week, and suggested that the realities of a packed international calendar had come back to bite after spending five months overseas this winter.
That long stint on the road had included a white-ball tour to New Zealand, a tough Ashes series in which his most notable act was to be filmed drunk on England's infamous mid-tour trip to Noosa, and the subsequent white-ball trip to Sri Lanka and India.
"I started running, which was good," Duckett said with a wry smile, expanding upon his fitness programme. "I had a four-week block when I got back from the winter where I didn't necessarily hit many balls. It is tough, at times, when you're on the road and you're constantly playing Test cricket, and then playing 50-over cricket, then T20 cricket.
"You don't get many windows where you can go and lose the amount of weight that I lost. For me now, it's just really important that I use that hard work and maintain it… It's something that I've really enjoyed and it's great for my mental space, and getting away from the game. I went to the gym and I ran a lot, and a bit of weight came off."
At 31, Duckett said that his fitness kick was designed to prolong his career. "It was pretty simple," he said. "It was just an area of my career where I haven't necessarily helped myself and been great at [previously]. The biggest thing is that I'm not getting any younger. I want to keep doing this. I want to keep having days like this for as long as I possibly can."
Duckett was reprieved on 8 by Henry Nicholls, who dropped a regulation chance at third slip off Nathan Smith's bowling, and made New Zealand pay for their profligacy. He scored particularly quickly against Mitchell Santner's left-arm spin, sweeping him repeatedly to take 36 runs off the 26 balls he faced from him, and said that he had felt in good rhythm all series.
"I've not changed the way I've played over the last few weeks," he said. "I played the same way at The Oval last week. I've been feeling in really good touch, to be honest; I've just not got a score and sometimes that can happen. Even looking back to the Ashes, I probably got four or five 20-plus scores [he made six], I just didn't go onto a big score.
"It's been a really frustrating time because I've not felt out of nick, necessarily, I've just not got the runs that I really want. So Mother Cricket was there for me today: I got put down, and made him pay for it.
"I was actually chatting to [fielding coach] Sarah Taylor this morning and said, 'A couple of their lads had a bit of luck yesterday, and you make people pay for it.' We were making a bit of a joke about how I've got to get some luck eventually… It's a funny old game, and I'm obviously extremely thankful to Henry Nicholls for doing that to me."