Some cricketers like Graeme Hick, Mike Hussey, and Jofra Archer were able to use their flamboyant domestic performances as a launchpad to commence their international cricketing careers. Soon after their international debuts, they shot to prominence and continued to impress with their game. South Africaborn cricketer Devon Conway is similarly set to start his international career for New Zealand. The 28-year-old cricketer lived in Johannesburg until a few years ago.
Currently, he lives in the New Zealand (NZ) city of Wallington and plays first-class cricket for the team with the same name. The Kiwis have included the uncapped left-hander opening batsman to their central contract list for the 2020-21 season, whereas ICC has made it clear that 28 August onwards, he would be eligible to play for the country.
Three years ago, Conway moved from Johannesburg to Wellington in search of better opportunities. He had stellar runs in two backto-back domestic seasons between 2018 and 2020 when he won the Domestic Player of the Year award in NZ. During the season he topped the charts in each of the three domestic competitions — Plunket Shield Ford Trophy and Super Smash— amassing 1,793 runs in total.
His incredible run powered Wellington to a Super Smash and Plunkett Shield double. He also scored 393 runs in a match against Canterbury. In first-class cricket, he scored nearly 12,000 runs. After this performance, he hopes that he will carry forward the tradition of Grant Elliott, Neil Wagner, and Kruger Van Wyk. The trio played domestic cricket in South Africa and New Zealand.
Before Conway, Graeme Hick played for England in 65 Tests and T20 ODIs. He scored 178 centuries in firstclass cricket, List A, and T-20 cricket. In domestic cricket, he scored a total of 64,372 runs. He started his international careers in the 1990s after he had already scored 57 first-class centuries in his name. When Michael Hussey started his international cricket, he’d scored 15,000 runs in first-class cricket.
In 79 Tests, he scored 6,235 runs at an average of 51.53. In ODIs, he scored 5,442 runs with an average of 48.15. When Jofra Archer got an opportunity to play for England, he had already taken 162 wickets. His performance for Rajasthan Royals in IPL was outstanding. Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal scored heavy runs in domestic cricket. Thereafter, he got an opportunity to play for India and he proved himself in Australia by scoring two back-toback half-centuries.
Recently, he scored two double-centuries and a single ton against South Africa and Bangladesh. Conway has so far scored 27 centuries in all formats of the game. Hopefully, he will get a chance after he is eligible to play for New Zealand and proves himself to be an asset as an opening batsman.