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Cricket is an unconventional sport and Devon Conway has had an unconventional career to date.
After departing South Africa for New Zealand in 2017, the Johannesburg product made his international debut at 29 and announced his arrival to test cricket in a fashion only one New Zealander has done before.
Becoming the second New Zealand batter to make a double century on test debut after Mathew Sinclair in 1999 meant that fans became immediately accustomed to watching Conway score runs.
And score runs he did, averaging 63.13 in his first year as a Black Cap in 2021, making 379 runs in six innings with two 50s alongside the 200 against England on debut.
He backed it up in 2022 with 649 runs at an average of 49.92 in 14 innings, scoring two hundreds (high score 122) and twice being dismissed in the 90s.
2023 was less fruitful; 13 innings saw 422 runs scored at an average of 32.46 (another high score of 122) this time being dismissed twice in the 70s.
Through six innings in 2024, the same number of innings as his breakout 2021 season, Conway has scored 68 runs at an average of 11.33 with a high score of 29.
Missing a large part of the 2024 white ball season with a broken thumb is sure to have hampered Conway’s form to a degree, yet the figures present a steady decline in form across a four-year span in which he has gone from a threat to the established Fab Four to an opening batter whose position at the top of the order may be under its own threat.
In the first test against Sri Lanka in Galle, Conway’s first test since February, hopes of a resurgence were dashed as he made 17 and 4 runs in his two innings and looked every bit a world class batter in a world class rut.
Devon Conway is dismissed on day four of the first test. Photo / Sri Lanka Cricket
Former test opener, Mark Richardson, tells the Herald that the Black Caps must realise how much homework is done by bowling coaches and that other nations have likely figured out a plan to get Conway out.
“I think at international level you’ve got to accept that the bowling attacks are better at working plans... they do a lot of scouting.
“Second and third years can be really tough and they would have started to work him out. Those bowling units will exploit the perceived weaknesses.”
Technically Richardson says that while Conway is not from the same textbook mould as a Kane Williamson he has attributes that he can lean on and that the battle will be as much in his mind as it is in the middle.
“He’s got magnificent hand-eye [co-ordination] and I think he’s got very good concentration, that concentration or that clear mind’s probably clouded right now.”
“He’s probably aware that these bowlers are starting to work him out.”
That battle of the mind is something Richardson is familiar with, talking about the mental process of converting himself to a test opener after struggling in first class cricket in his book Thinking Negatively.
While he acknowledges he cannot see inside Conway’s head, he theorises that he may at some point need to forgo tweaks to his technique and use mechanisms like a pre-ball routine to deal with pressure.
“You get preoccupied with the technical aspect and not actually just go ‘You know what, the technique is what it is I’ve just got to enter into this fight’ because he’s got a tonne of fight, we’ve seen it before.
“Your pre-ball routine and routine processes is the only way of dealing with pressure. If you get absorbed in that pre-ball routine, which at the end of the day is about channelling everything down to the moment where you’ve just got to look at the ball and see that ball as closely as you can. Once the ball is bowled you can sign it off and go through your routine again.”
Devon Conway's battle for runs may be as much in his head as it is out in the middle, says Mark Richardson. Photo / Photosport
Richardson says one of the ways he used to deal with dips in form was to break an innings into smaller, more manageable parts. Be it getting through not out to drinks or by making 15 runs he says he kept his mind occupied but also was able to occupy time at the crease.
Across his six test innings in 2024, Conway has failed to make it past 30 on any occasion but Richardson says he’s shown that if he can reach those small milestones then big runs usually follow.
“We know with Devon that once he gets in he goes on to big totals, he’s just having that issue of getting to 30. I can tell you when you’re out of form getting to 30 is gold.”
Conway has opened the batting, come in at first drop and at number four in Black Caps lineups; averaging 37.65, 60.75 and 13.25 respectively.
Richardson says despite the recent struggles, a decision to either drop Conway or move him down the order should be taken with caution.
Selection decisions should be made on what a batter can give you on their best day, he says, and as such any replacement for Conway needs to be able to produce at a level higher than what you can expect from the player you already have opening your innings.
“That line is quickly coming up, but I think he’s got a few more tests to struggle in before I think we look for someone else.”
Rachin Ravindra would be a candidate to open the batting in Conway’s stead, but Richardson says he’d be hesitant to hamper the development of a younger player like Ravindra in order to cater to the struggles of another player.
“I don’t think he is a natural opener, but where do you pop him? Looking at that side, there isn’t really another opener is there?
“I’d love him to be batting further down, but the reality is you have a look at that middle order right now and it’s pretty strong.
They say form is temporary and class is permanent, Richardson backs Conway to deliver on that famous quote.
“The important thing is, he’s signed his lease for some time. We know how good he is. You can’t walk away from that.”
Conway has a second test against Sri Lanka, three against India and a home series against England to close out the year and prove that quote correct.
Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He enjoys watching people chase a ball around on a grass surface so much he decided to make a living out of it.
