2020/21 Plunket Shield: Devon Conway's Chasing Pack
Around Aotearoa as folks pondered various lockdown meditations, there was an air of certainty with regards to the 'next up' Blackcaps batsman permeating from the lands covered by ferns, manuka and kauri. Much of that certainty has been reinforced in the opening stages of the Plunket Shield as Wellington Firebirds batsman Devon Conway has hit scores of 81 and 94 in his 4 innings batted, flowing on from the end of last season in which Conway hit 94 in his final innings of the summer.
Yeah bro, that means Conway has three 80+ scores in three consecutive games. Having stacked up big runs kinda ever since he arrived in Aotearoa, culminating in Conway leading all run-scorers across the three formats last summer, Conway seemed to leap-frog Central Districts Stags batsman Will Young in the hunt for a Blackcaps starting role in Test cricket. Across his time in South Africa and Aotearoa, Conway has played 104 First Class games and is averaging 47.12 to go with a List-A average of 44.98 and the low key monster T20 stats of 39.66avg/124.84sr.
Note: Conway's T20 average is ranked 11th all time. Chris Harris still leads these rankings (70.66avg) and Auckland's Rob O'Donnell (49.58) is still second since the last time I checked this, meaning that O'Donnell, Babar Azam (Pakistan), KL Rahul (India) and Virat Kohli (India) are the only active players with higher T20 averages than Conway.
Prior to Conway's emergence, Central Districts batsman Will Young was where the certainty sat. Young had a sizzling end to last summer and started this season with 43*, before scores of 9 and 23 in round two vs Auckland. I've got Young in an awkward spot where he's stuck between chasing Conway and fending off the lads mentioned below.
Conway started the Plunket Shield with knocks of 31 and 81 vs Canterbury in round one in Wellington, then backed it up in Christchurch again against the Cantabs for round two with scores of 27 and 94. There's still a lot of business left on the final day of round two, so no need to slide over to the Plunket Shield rankings (where Conway is 1st) - we don't need the rankings to see that Conway's still in run-eater mode.
This adds into the Conway certainty, although the batting department is less spacious compared to the bowlers where Matt Henry's injury opens up an obvious path for Kyle Jamieson for more opportunities. Like Conway, Jamieson is strolling through batting line ups to start the season and is adding immense weight to his Blackcaps case. For Conway though there aren't exactly openings in the Test or ODI team right now - the Blackcaps welcome all the boys in for T20I cricket so that's a likely entry point for Conway.
Certainty doesn't apply anywhere else though as there's plenty of funk in the up and coming batsman department, plus Henry Nicholls hasn't had a chance to showcase his talents as an incumbent. If Nicholls can't get on the Plunket Shield pitch and Conway's scored even more runs, then that's an opening of the doors for Conway to get a crack in the Blackcaps Test middle order.
Blackcaps Test middle order ... where Daryl Mitchell scored a half-century on Test debut and followed that up with 103* vs India A (FC) and now a century early in the summer. Mitchell hit 103 for Canterbury in this round two game vs Wellington and that's quietly packaged alongside 7w @ 15.71avg/2.50rpo (as of Saturday morning).
Blackcaps Test middle order ... where Glenn Phillips scored a half-century on Test debut and Phillips hit his first 50+ score of the summer with 66 for Auckland in the second innings vs Central District. If you're now eager to see Conway in the Blackcaps T20I mixer after learning some things, remember that Phillips has steadily been among the best Caribbean Premier League batsmen for three years in a row and has his own decent record of 31.35avg/134.33sr.
Prior to Phillips' 66, Mark Chapman hit 54 in the first innings for Auckland. Reminder: Chapman had scores of 110* (LA) and 114 (FC) in different formats vs India A, then had scores of 84* (Ford Trophy), 52, 24, 143 and 146 (Plunket Shield) to finish his summer earlier this year.
Northern Districts batsman Joe Carter backed up his first innings century with 54 in the second dig vs Otago Volts and opener Henry Cooper hit a second innings 85. Carter's probably a level below these other lads - Conway's a monster, Mitchell and Phillips made Test debuts, Chapman's has played ODI and T20I cricket and Cooper's the hottest opener no one talks about - although Carter's weight of runs is catching my attention.
I've yarned about Cooper plenty and I'll update it by saying that Cooper's now on a four game streak of 50+ scores, another score or two away from breaking the 40avg mark. Cooper currently averages 39.54 in FC cricket after 26 games.
Cooper's opening partner for the Knights Jeet Raval struggled in round two with scores of 9 and 15, but after a 68 in round one he is a factor. Raval's still a factor in part because Wellington opener and Blackcaps Test opener Tom Blundell rolled through scores of 8 and 1 in round two vs Canterbury, giving Blundell (small sample size alert) 28 runs in 4inns @ 7avg.
If you still have George Worker in your Blackcaps mix, he hit 53 opening for Central Districts vs Auckland in their first innings. That's two 50+ scores in two games for Worker to start this season.
Conway is putting himself ahead of the pack and then there is a hefty group of batsmen who aren't too far behind as they are combining Plunket Shield runs right now, with a splash of Blackcaps history (varying degrees) and/or in the case of Cooper there's a young opener who is churning out runs. The Conway aspect still seems rather certain and the funk there is how or where does Conway fit in, assuming the Blackcaps lads are healthy and available.
There's bubbling beneath that Conway surface certainty though and as we enter the final day of round two, key lads in the chasing pack have scored their runs to keep things funky while some lads are struggling and that is also rather funky. All of this is glorious and everything is so muddled in this specific group of batsmen that all we can do is kick back and let these blokes compete for opportunities.
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Peace and love.