The inevitability of England’s record-breaker moulding this occasion in his direction just hung there in the air for a while, before falling perfectly into place.

Leading his country out as captain once more, Harry Kane tied level with Peter Shilton on 125 appearances to become England’s joint most-capped player in history and capped that with a stellar performance as England beat the Czech Republic 3-0 at Wembley Stadium in the Nations League.

Kane is still only 33 and destined to retire a bonafide candidate for the title of his country’s greatest-ever player and marked his grand occasion by scoring twice and assisting the Three Lions’ other goal in a resounding win.

It was all about Jude Bellingham in Rijeka on Saturday but Kane took centre stage here.

The striker’s sublime cross into the corridor of uncertainty prompted Vladimir Coufal, under less pressure than he thought he was, to slam into his own net and signal the start of another night of England being comfortably better than their opponents.

What he really wanted, though, was not an assist but a goal, and Kane had one when a sumptuously slick move saw Elliot Anderson play round the corner for Morgan Rogers to slide the ball into Kane’s path and the Ballon d’Or contender to hammer into the corner of the net goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek was furthest from.

And, after he had stung the bar, it got better from England’s history man, who was the overpowering figure on the end of a second-half Lewis Hall corner to beat his marker in the air and head past Hornicek, the oldest player to net a brace in successive England appearances, yet another record broken by the unrelenting 33-year-old.

There are some who feel it should be Chelsea’s Morgan Rogers rather than Bukayo Saka of Arsenal who starts on the right wing for Thomas Tuchel’s team, and while that is very much a minority view, Rogers did his cause no harm at Wembley.

One or two moments will have frustrated the 24-year-old, including when he should have done better from a Kane lay-off and then, shortly after, from Bellingham’s looped long ball.

But the former Aston Villa winger showcased what he can bring to the international stage and, particularly, to the right flank, a well-weighted slipped ball into Elliot Anderson that the Manchester City midfielder blazed over followed by a crisp, one-touch cross for Kane to convert for 2-0, doubling England’s lead.

Kane knew to thank Rogers for the assist afterwards, pointing at the Chelsea man and lauding his inch-perfect delivery.

And, this being the fourth of four internationals for England during this break, there were chances for fringe men to get on the pitch who might not have the chance so often.

The most obvious of those was Trent Alexander-Arnold — solid but less effective than in Prague — but also Myles Lewis-Skelly, who lasted the full 90 minutes in midfield, and his Arsenal team-mate Eberechi Eze. Though he did not contribute with a goal or assist, Eze was far livelier than he has been in recent England outings and showed Tuchel what he can produce in transition and in tight areas.

And from the bench, Jarrad Branthwaite, James Garner, Morgan Gibbs-White and Rio Ngumoha had their chance, too. Tuchel was practically cuddling Ngumoha when he threw him on, urging the teen to impact play late on.

Then came Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the final substitute, on for Kane, whose night it had been right from the off.