Only two of the 23 wickets across the first three days of the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy decider have fallen to spin, both to Bashir in New Zealand’s first innings. But Bashir found some turn during his nine-over spell in the evening session, and both teams’ seamers exploited the variable bounce on offer, with a few cracks emerging.

“You’ve seen Shoaib Bashir turning it pretty big out there, so [Santner] is going to have a massive role in that fourth innings,” Foulkes, who took three wickets after he replaced the concussed Blair Tickner, said. “That’s the beauty of bowling last: hopefully, the wicket is going to be at its hardest to bat by then, and hopefully we can make us of it.”

Foulkes’ dismissals included legcutters to clean up Harry Brook and Ben Stokes which moved significantly off the straight, which he said was proof of the pitch’s deterioration. “They hit cracks, which is a good sign with us bowling last. We just had to probe away at that top of off [stump] and hope the odd one would do something, and we’d get our reward.”

New Zealand reached the close with a 204-run lead and seven second-innings wickets in hand, and allrounder Nathan Smith suggested that they would plan to bat deep into the fourth day. “Hopefully, we can pole on a few more and have a crack at them tomorrow night,” Smith told the BBC’s Test Match Special.

“I was a little bit nervous when we were 2 for 12 but the boys batted really well this evening to get us to 200 ahead. I’m not sure how many we need, I just know we want a hell of a lot more tomorrow: bat for another session-and-a-half if we can. It does a little bit more in the morning here, so we’ll see how we go in that first hour, and then [try to] pile on over 300, for sure.”

Smith echoed Foulkes’ thoughts about the pitch: “I feel like the heat has done its thing. It’s definitely got worse for batting as the game has gone on, so I’d assume it would continue with that trend.”

Bashir has taken five-wicket hauls in the second innings of his two previous Tests at Trent Bridge, against West Indies and Zimbabwe, and told Test Match Special that he expected to play a significant role on Sunday.

“As you saw, the wicket is deteriorating a bit so my role is going to be a more important role,” he said. “I’ve bowled here before in [the] second innings and it’s been special, so I’ll see what I can pull out my sleeve tomorrow. The weather has allowed the pitch to dry out, and there has been lateral movement and a bit of bounce.”

He added in his post-match press conference that he was “looking forward to the challenge”, and said England would be confident chasing a target. “I wouldn’t put a number on it, especially with this England side,” Bashir said. “We have unbelievable cricketers in this team. I wouldn’t put a number on it, but [we’d like to chase] as little as possible with this wicket deteriorating.”