Michael Vaughan must still be pinching himself before the third and final Test against New Zealand.

The series was meant to be close but, heading for Trent Bridge and Thursday's start, the contest has already been decided.

It has been so one-sided, indeed, that the home team could yet complete the first whitewash between the sides in 26 years.

Everything England and their smiling selectors touch at the moment turns to gold.

Former captain Nasser Hussain walks out for his last Test innings and, having spent most of a dour career scratching stubbornly around for ones and twos, he produces an exemplary century full of fluency and finesse, settling the Lord's Test with three glorious consecutive boundaries.

Andrew Strauss, textbook straight, scores a century on his debut (it would have been two centuries but for Hussain's calling between the wickets). Andrew Flintoff, maturing fast and with a series batting average of 78.5, begins to look like the genuine all round article.

Fresh-faced Geraint Jones is given the gloves and scores a century in the second Test on a sub-standard Headingley track that any batsman would have been proud of.

And strike bowler Steve Harmison continues to improve while even second reserve Martin Saggers, let in by injuries to Stephen Jones and James Anderson, catches the mood with a wicket with his first ball in Tests.

TOOTHLESS ATTACK

Everything New Zealand touch, meanwhile, turns to dust.

Their bowling attack, robbed of the injured Shane Bond, has looked as toothless as Vaughan's new daughter.

The wayward Chris Martin, of whom much was expected, has taken six wickets at 52.16 apiece, compared to Harmison's 15 at 22.2. Daryll Tuffey has fared even worse, with three wickets costing 82 apiece.

Spinner Daniel Vettori had only managed four, conceding 205 runs on the way, before his hamstring gave up.

If Stephen Fleming can turn his side around at Trent Bridge, it will represent something of a miracle.

They reached 161 for one at Lord's but, the bowlers failing to match the batsmen's lead, still lost by seven wickets. At Headingley, it was 202 for one on the first day and they went down by nine.

Fleming has also been off-colour. He came to England trumpeted as the premier Test captain in the world but he has not looked at his best, stubbornly refusing to attack at Headingley despite a string of English edges sailing past him at solitary first slip.

He even got Vettori to start bowling outside leg stump, a negative tactic usually associated with England's Ashley Giles.

"I'd be lying if we said we weren't demoralised," Fleming conceded after the second Test, picking out Harmison's contribution in particular in describing the Durham giant as a mix of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

It will take something quite extraordinary to change the New Zealand mood at Trent Bridge.

Chris Cairns, in his final Test, might just serve up something special.

One of the world's few genuine all rounders and who would surely have joined the all-time greats if his body had held out better, Cairns deserves a fitting send-off.

The fairy tales all seem to have English accents during this series, however.

What price Anderson -- the same Anderson who took five wickets for England in his first Test innings -- returning from injury and producing a match-winning display?