Devon Conway

Devon Conway
New Zealand have always enjoyed having an opener who can take the attack to the opposition bowlers early, across all formats. While Brendon McCullum played that role to perfection for many years, his retirement left a question mark about who could step in to fill those shoes.

The Kiwis found an answer in the South African-born Devon Conway, who swapped the Protean green to represent the Black Caps, and has become one of the most well-rounded opening batters in world cricket, helping guide New Zealand to the inaugural World Test Championships final, amongst many other accolades.

Starting off in South Africa

Conway began his journey in South African domestic cricket in 2009, representing Gauteng. However, while the talent was there, the performances didn’t come together as he kept bouncing in and out of the team.

Conway was looking for a fresh start and a clean slate to get his career underway again, and while being a Kolpak cricketer would have been the more typical path, Conway chose to try his luck in the professional system of New Zealand instead, inspired by his friends and teammates Malcolm Nofal and Michael Rippon.

Rediscovery with Wellington and approaching international cap

Conway had some bumper domestic campaigns between 2018 and 2020, and shot himself into contention for a first New Zealand cap even as he approached his 30th birthday.

In particular, he became a popular choice to be opener as he finished as top scorer in all three major domestic competitions across formats in New Zealand. He also helped Wellington lift their first Plunket Shield in over 15 years.

International debut and double-century at Lord’s

It wasn’t long before Devon Conway was fast-tracked into the international team for New Zealand, made eligible and picked up after just three years playing domestic cricket in the country.

He began with the limited overs formats, making his debut in T20s in November 2020. His ODI debut came in March the following year, and while he was impressive in both, he was always seen as a red-ball batter.

He earned his debut in Tests as New Zealand travelled to England, and made his debut at Lord’s and scoring 200 on the dot. He became only the seventh cricketer to score a double-century on debut, and the first to do so at the home of cricket.

Conway continued going from strength to strength and has established himself as one of the finest openers in world cricket, with four Test centuries and five ODI centuries to his name.

IPL successes

Devon Conway was picked up by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2022 season. Although he only played 7 matches in his first season in yellow, he was one of the stars enroute to their 2023 title-winning run.

In 16 matches, Conway scored 672 runs, finishing third in the list of top run-scorers for the tournament. This included a crucial innings of 47(25) in the final which set the foundation for their victory and earned him player of the match in the final as well.