Domestic Cricket Daily: Devon Conway and The Youngins
We are currently at a point of existence where if you don't know who this Devon Conway cuzzie is, you haven't been paying enough attention to the Niche Cache's domestic cricket coverage. Over the past 18 months, Conway has shown numerous glimpses of his class, to the point where he is one my of top-five most yarned about domestic cricketers on the circuit. In Plunket Shield round two, Conway went to a nek level.
Conway scored 203* in Wellington Firebirds' win over Otago Volts, a knock that set up a hefty innings and 101 run win. This came in the first innings, alongside a breezy 110 from another enticing Kiwi-African prospect Malcolm Nofal batting #6 and Conway is now commanding attention, demanding that you understand why he's averaging 43.83 in 92 First Class games.
203* isn't even Conway's highest scored as he's got a 205* and when you have hit 15 centuries as a 27-year-old, what's another double hundy? This double hundy does bring with it plenty of funk though as it genuinely reinforces Conway's credentials as a dominant force in domestic cricket and comes as Conway has been promoted to make the #3 batting spot his own, as well as zoning in on his batting duties.
As he's also a wicket-keeper, Conway would take over from Tom Blundell when Blundell was out on Blackcaps duty last summer. Blundell is currently away with Aotearoa 'A' and Conway isn't wicket-keeping, Wellington have instead opted to give Lachie Johns the opportunities in Blundell's absence and this is enabling Conway to streamline his cricket. Scores of 11, 39* and 203* suggest that this is working out nicely.
The weird thing about Conway's work so far this season is that he is capable of smoothly transitioning between the ebs and flows of an innings. Conway has 253 runs this season @ 48.84sr and that's the lowest strike-rate of the six batsmen who have scored over 150 runs after two games. Conway's 203* came off 389 balls and this is in keeping with his overall FC strike-rate of 55.70, which when we take a geeze at his 84.08sr in 50-over cricket and 114.05 in T20 cricket, reflects the format of the game.
That may sound obvious and a bit silly, however it's a mark of a classy operator in my cricket observing notebook. Conway is able to play a variety of different styles, suiting different situations and has the tools to be able to adapt to what is required. As long as Wellington have sussed a role for Conway, allowing for consistency, this could be the start of Conway exploding this summer.
Nofal could be offering the same explosion of the domestic cricket radar, but Michael Bracewell won't be doing any exploding. Bracewell is quietly going about his business for the Firebirds batting #4 and as skipper, he is leading by example. After scoring 53 and 32* in round one, Bracewell hit 87 in round two, which has Bracewell 4th in runs.
Ultimately, the combination of Conway, Bracewell, Jimmy Neesham and Nofal in Wellington's middle order has all bases covered. All four of them have already registered a 50+ score after just two games and as they are all on deck for at least the next month, until the Blackcaps are back in Aotearoa, this Wellington batting line up is going to be mandatory viewing.
Bracewell is one of five batsmen who has passed 50 twice thus far and is joined by Dane Cleaver, Willem Luddick, Jeet Raval and Henry Cooper. I touched on Raval's antics in my Blackcaps battlers wrap and I was chuffed to see Cleaver hit a century, while Luddick and Cooper went 50+ again.
Cleaver has been one of the most slept on cricketers in Aotearoa for a few years now and with Ross Taylor out of action this round, along with Will Young and Tom Bruce in UAE, Cleaver hit 117 batting #4. This knock featured 5 sixes and put Cleaver 2nd in runs behind Conway, with 182 runs @ 60.66avg, which isn't anything new for the 26-year-old who averages 41.20 in FC cricket.
Going back to the final three Plunket Shield games last season, here are Cleaver's last few innings; 72, 0, 46, 0, 87* 56, 117, 9. That's four 50+ socres in 8inns and as long as Cleaver is scoring runs in such fashion, I'll continue to put him in the mixer for higher honours. Cleaver has been consistently overlooked in favour of Blundell, Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips in the wicket-keeper conversation, but deserves to be in the convo at the very least.
Luddick and Cooper hitting 50+ scores again is exciting from my own personal viewpoint given that I reckon these two are in the low key best young prospects crew. Cooper may be as slept on as Cleaver and the young Northern Districts opener is currently the 3rd-best opening in Aotearoa, after he hit a second innings 58 against Canterbury; Raval and Hamish Rutherford have more runs than Cooper. Cooper has now passed 50 in each of his last three Plunket Shield games and has passed 50 in five of his last seven Plunket Shield games.
Luddick got in on the action alongside Cleaver, hitting 50 in the first innings of the Stags win over Auckland. This has Ludick 3rd in runs, he, Cleaver and Raval are the only batsmen who have a century and half-century after two games.
In my selection wrap of Plunket Shield round two, I highlighted how Chad Bowes had made way for Jack Boyle at the top of Canterbury's batting line up. This may have been because of injury or whatever, but I suggested that giving Bowes and Boyle an opportunity each while Tom Latham was around, would ensure that they are both ready for when Latham departs. Just an idea.
Boyle responded with 108 for Canterbury, setting up a fighting draw against ND. That then sets up a Canterbury opening pair that has me eager to see what they can do in Latham's absence as Bowes and Boyle settle into their opening combination. This was Boyle's first FC century and after 16inns, his record isn't crazy (21.56avg) but he's hit a hundy in his first start of this season and with Bowes capable of taking his longform game up a notch, this could be a fun combo to keep tabs on.
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They are both fairly young with Boyle 22yrs and Bowes 26yrs, which is a beautiful thing when we consider that Conway's the older statesman at 27yrs with Ludick and Cooper both at the start of their cricketing journey. Then we have the Kiwi-African angle to this which is kinda bonkers; Conway, Bowes, Ludick and Nofal are the latest Africans to make waves on the kiwi circuit.
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Peace and love 27.