Welcome To The Whanau: Devon Conway's Arrival
The whispers from Wellington started to percolate. Another South African had made the move to Aotearoa and this bloke arrived with nothing promised to him, just a fresh start and a hope to play his best cricket. While Aotearoa was infatuated with Neil Wagner's mana, Colin Munro's slugging and the Colin de Grandhomme vibe, a new Kiwi-African chap named Devon Conway was turning a few heads.
Since his first summer of kiwi cricket in 2017/18, the Conway wave has been gaining momentum. In making his debut for Aotearoa this summer, Conway's wave became a Raglan special. The Blackcaps were already up to their necks in a golden era and there was already a vibe of loving the excellence of individuals and a team culture under Kane Williamson's guidance. It was a slow simmer to get to this moment and now with Conway thrown into the mix, we're all carving this wave with a mellow longboard.
Having made his debut for Gauteng in 2009, Conway played nine summers of cricket in South Africa. Conway came from the same Gauteng Under 19 team as Quinton de Kock and Malcolm Nofal - the latter would also move to Wellington and feature heavily for the Firebirds before returning to South Africa. Part of the funk around Conway's story is the mystery surrounding his career in South Africa and with Conway eating runs for breakfast, the yarn quickly gets flipped around to pondering how South African cricket didn't snap up Conway.
No matter the daily complaints of news outlets, Aotearoa is a pretty sweet place. South Africa is a wee bit more complex and this is low key evident in the structure of their domestic cricket ranks. Various folks with more knowledge of the situation will tell you that Conway performed strongly at a regional level that still counts as 'First-Class' cricket and when Conway earned promotions to a franchise level, he didn't quite kick on.
For all his wizardry that we now witness, Conway didn't take his opportunities in South Africa. Factor in all the culture/society stuff and a move to Aotearoa was made. Whether it's nationalistic pride or mere curiousity, many would ponder what bumped Conway to a nek level ... then another nek level and a couple more. Regardless of what specific level of cricket Conway was playing in his last two seasons of cricket in South Africa, they were his strongest back-to-back seasons in South Africa and point to a shift in his work.
Conway had fantastic campaigns prior, but this two season stretch was different. In FC cricket, Conway averaged 61.14 (2015/16) and 98.55 (2016/17). In List-A cricket Conway averaged 46.25 and 40 across those two summers. Conway's last year of cricket in South Africa saw him score four centuries and three half-centuries in 14inns of FC cricket. Conway's first season in Aotearoa would be the only summer in which Conway had an average below 50 since 2015/16.
Nau mai, haere mai to Aotearoa Devon...
2017/18
Plunket Shield: 40th - 7inns, 238 runs @ 39.66avg/50.74sr, 1 x 100.
Ford Trophy: 13th - 7inns, 263 runs @ 52.60avg/87.37sr, 2 x 50.
2018/19
Plunket Shield: 1st - 12inns, 659 runs @ 82.37avg/52.72sr, 2 x 100, 2 x 50.
Ford Trophy: 4th - 12inns, 411 runs @ 37.36avg/79.96sr, 4 x 50.
Super Smash: 1st - 9inns, 363 runs @ 45.37avg/144.04sr, 1 x 100.
2019/20
Plunket Shield: 1st - 11inns, 701 runs @ 87.62avg/69.06sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.
Ford Trophy: 1st - 10inns, 553 runs @ 55.30avg/99.46sr, 2 x 100, 4 x 50.
Super Smash: 1st - 11inns, 543 runs @ 67.87avg/145.18sr, 1 x 100, 5 x 50.
2020/21
Plunket Shield: 5th - 9inns, 456 runs @ 50.66avg/47.50sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.
Super Smash: 2nd - 10inns, 455 runs @ 65avg/135.82sr, 5 x 50.
What you've just read, amounts to 10 different competitions in four summers. Conway was the leading run-scorer in five of them and kiwi cricket fans of the slightly nerdy variety would love to know that Conway's Firebirds homie Michael Papps was 1st in Plunket Shield runs back in 2017/18 and the bloke slightly ahead of Conway in runs was Aussie Daniel Sams. Conway dominated all formats and I'm always fascinated by the blokes who pile up runs with strike-rates that align with that format.
Conway respects each format, applies his skills to those formats and the main thing in common across the three formats for Conway is that he scores runs with relative ease. Conway took his career T20 strike-rate of 129.74 and elevated it to 151.11sr this summer in T20I cricket, while his career List-A strike-rate of 86.02 became 88.23sr in Conway's first three ODI games. The ease at which Conway moved into international cricket alludes to talent, maturity and self-awareness.
Here's four of Conway's best T20I knocks from this summer. Clockwise: 2nd T20I vs West Indies, 3rd T20I vs Pakistan, 1st T20I vs Australia, 1st T20I vs Bangladesh.
Conway scored runs in all around the park. One game he is peppering the point boundary, another game he's rolling out a variety of sweep-type of shots to the leg side. Conway will perfectly time a shot down the ground and then dab a delivery behind him - either side of the wicket. It's a long way from Conway's first T20 campaign in South Africa where he hit 108 runs @ 21.60avg/95.57sr.
In moving up to international cricket, Conway played 14inns ( 11 x T20I, 3 x ODI). Conway's first 14 innings of international cricket and he was not dismissed 'bowled' or 'lbw'. Conway was dismissed in 8 of his 14 T20I innings, all of which were caught by a fielder and Conway was also caught by a fielder for two of his three ODI dismissals. The other dismissal? Run out.
After Conway's first T20I knock (41 @ 141.38sr), I described Conway's batting as a cozy korowai - warmth, comfort, love and respect. This was due to how easy Conway made batting and how that made me feel. Other batsmen may be more frantic, some are out of their depth, some are utterly dominant. Batting is a craft, an art-form and each batsman will make you feel a different way. While Kane Williamson's batting makes me feel joy and bliss, Conway is all about the loving embrace of a korowai.
Conway finishes his first Blackcaps summer with...
ODI: 3inns, 225 runs @ 75avg/88.23sr, 1 x 100, 1 x 50.
T20I: 11inns, 473 runs @ 59.12avg/151.11sr, 4 x 50.
Having absorbed a diet of T20I cricket this summer, it wasn't enough to give Conway 20 innings and thus entering Cricinfo's T20I batting average rankings. Virat Kohli leads this with an almighty 52.65avg from 84 innings and right now, Conway's average of 59.12 falls into the abyss of high averages from few games. In the history of cricket, Conway's among a large pack. In a year's time, Conway may have a decent case as the best T20I batsman in the world.
So much T20I cricket this summer and yet we'll have to wait a while to see where Conway enters those rankings. The presence of Test cricket looms on the horizon though, as does the Blackcaps overseas adventures. These are key markers in how we view Conway moving forward and no matter how brilliant Conway is in Aotearoa, nor how cozy Conway's batting makes me feel - Conway is one of many kiwi batsmen throughout our history who has looked pretty good in Aotearoa.
That is to say that Conway's nek level, is the Blackcaps nek level. Conway's eligibility to represent Aotearoa aligned with a home summer and a strong Blackcaps culture. Conway added to the Blackcaps culture as he scampered around the out-field, was mobbed by team mates and epitomised the kiwi team-first approach. Now we wait to see what Conway can add to a team that has a chance to reach the heights that no Blackcaps team has before.
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