Devon Conway elated to be back to playing cricket saying it has been great to be back in this environment’.
After playing for New Zealand at the T20 World Cup over a year ago, Devon Conway called his return to the T20I team “great.” Conway was originally left out of the touring squad to Zimbabwe and has since declined a central contract, but his comeback was made possible by Finn Allen’s foot injury, and he is thrilled to be playing for his nation once more.
“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,” he said at the post-match press conference. “Obviously Finn Allen’s injury is unfortunate but for me 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. And it was nice to contribute today to the win.”
Conway’s 59 not out and the half-century partnerships he enjoyed with Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra enabled New Zealand defeat Zimbabwe by eight wickets and take the lead in the tri-series standings. Even though he scored the most runs, he didn’t appear at ease until the end of his innings, following multiple top-edges off short balls from Zimbabwe’s seamers.
Conway was dropped on 1 after misfiring twice with draw shots that fell safely after he edged a back-of-a-length delivery from Richard Ngavara to Blessing Muzarabani at short third.
“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 said. “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.”
Conway is working for the first time under new coach Rob Walter, who left South Africa’s white-ball position to take on the all-format post for New Zealand. For three years, including the upcoming T20 and ODI World Cups, Walter will be in control of New Zealand. Conway has enjoyed working with Walter thus far, but he has not stated if he would wish to be considered for those tournaments.
“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 said. “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.”