Devon Conway Delights in New Zealand T20I Return After Year-Long Absence

Conway

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: Devon Conway has expressed his immense satisfaction at being back in the New Zealand T20I squad, a year after his last appearance at the T20 World Cup. Despite having previously declined a central contract and initially being omitted from the Zimbabwe tour, a foot injury to Finn Allen opened the door for Conway’s return, an opportunity he’s clearly relishing.

“It’s great to be back in this environment. It’s been a while, so just getting the call-up to come back into the squad is fantastic,” Conway stated at the post-match press conference. He acknowledged the unfortunate circumstances of Allen’s injury but welcomed the chance to rejoin the squad and contribute to a win, noting, “it’s nice to get that opportunity to be with the squad again and see a couple of faces who I haven’t seen in a long period of time.”

Conway’s unbeaten 59 runs off 40 balls, along with his half-century partnerships with Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, were instrumental in New Zealand’s comfortable eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe, propelling them to the top of the tri-series points table. While he top-scored, Conway admitted he initially struggled with the steep bounce from Zimbabwe’s seamers, miscuing several pull shots and even being dropped on one.

“There was a lot of steep bounce in the surface, which was a little bit unexpected, but we adjusted and thankfully we only had to chase 121 and managed to get across the line,” he explained. He specifically highlighted the challenge posed by Richard Ngarava, Zimbabwe’s left-arm pacer, saying, “With the new ball, especially their left-armer [Ngarava] was a massive challenge for us as batters. They bashed that wicket really hard and got a lot of steep bounce out of it, so it made it pretty hard for us batters early.”


Adapting to Conditions and New Coaching Philosophy

The match was played on a fresh pitch, contrasting with the slower, stickier surfaces of earlier fixtures in the week. New Zealand, having won their first two matches, are confident of reaching the final. Their next challenge is against South Africa on Tuesday, where Conway will be wary of another left-arm pacer, Kwena Maphaka, who troubled him in New Zealand’s opening match.

This series also marks Conway’s first experience working under new coach Rob Walter, who took on the all-format role for New Zealand after leaving his white-ball position with South Africa. Walter is contracted for three years, covering the next T20 and ODI World Cups. While Conway hasn’t confirmed his availability for future tournaments, he expressed enjoyment working with Walter so far.

“It’s just been a couple of days we’ve been with him but his positive mindset around T20 cricket has been nice and clear for us batters,” Conway remarked. “He’s brought positive energy and a slightly new way of thinking so it’s nice to have him on board and experimenting as to how he operates as the head coach.”

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