Tom Latham notched his 17th Test century and Devon Conway was closing in on three figures as New Zealand's openers made England toil in sweltering conditions, racking up 213-0 by tea on Day 1 of the deciding Test on Thursday.

It made for a nightmarish return to the England team after disciplinary issues for captain Ben Stokes, who was part of an attack that was struggling to eke out a wicket-taking chance on a flat, docile pitch at Trent Bridge.

With the series level at 1-1, Latham won what is proving a crucial toss and reached three figures off 149 balls with his 10th four of the day.

The captain, who had scored only 34 runs in four previous innings this series, was unbeaten on 109 while Conway was 94 not out and in sight of his eighth Test hundred.

It was the highest opening stand by New Zealand in a test match in England — New Zealand's first against England since 1930 — and the seventh of 200 runs or more by Kiwi openers in test history.

Latham and Conway have pedigree, too. They put on 323 runs for the first wicket against West Indies at Mount Maunganui in December.

Stokes, back in the team along with Gus Atkinson after they were dropped for the second Test, bowled 11 overs and had figures of 0-51.

Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was introduced for the 11th over — only once since 1961 has an England spinner bowled so early in a home test, the BBC reported. And he could have nabbed the wicket of Conway for 71 after lunch — when the score was 157-0 — after hitting his pad before bat in front of the stumps. England failed to review for lbw, though, when replays showed it was plumb.

England's attack was wilting in Nottingham, amid uncommon temperatures in Britain of up to 31 C (88 F).

Some of New Zealand's optimism generated from a dominant 253-run win in last week's second Test at The Oval might have been punctured by losing two key players — top-ranked test bowler Matt Henry and middle-order batter Glenn Phillips — because of injury. Pacer Kyle Jamieson was already down to be rested to manage his workload after recent back problems.

However, the tourists have kept up their momentum thanks to Latham and Conway.

The only real chance for England came early when Latham edged Jofra Archer through the third slip region — where Stokes had removed a fielder moments earlier.