Published: Oct 18, 2018, 11:46 AM (IST)
Edited: Oct 18, 2018, 11:46 AM (IST)
South Africa-born Devon Conway’s attempts to become a New Zealand cricketer took shape during the latest round of Plunket Shield action as he scored 203 not out to put Wellington on top against Otago at the Basin Reserve.
The left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman raised his double-hundred off 219 balls and was unbeaten on 203 when Wellington declared at 509/5 before cutting up Otago to 114/5 by the close of play. This was Conway’s 15th first-class century, and second for Wellington since he signed with them last year.
200 up for Devon Conway. Patience. Persistence. Class. What a knock!
The Firebirds have declared on 509/5 with Conway 203 not out and Lauchie Johns 36 not out.
LIVE scoring | https://t.co/BW7WrwniD7 #BirdsOnFire #cricketnation #PlunketShield pic.twitter.com/09gTjoQ8rU
— Wellington Firebirds (@wgtnfirebirds) October 18, 2018
Conway, 27, is bidding to join the likes of Grant Elliott, BJ Watling, Neil Wagner and Colin Munro as South African-born cricketers who have broken into the New Zealand team. Conway was born in Johannesburg but migrated to New Zealand in 2017 and was contracted by Wellington as a ‘qualifying player’ which means that he will be eligible to play for his adopted country in 2020.
“I wanted to make a life here and I definitely would like to play for the Black Caps in the future,” he told stuff.co.nz earlier this year.
He is one of 13 South African-born cricketers with current New Zealand Cricket contracts.
Conway scored 12 first-class hundreds for Gauteng in South African domestic cricket in a career that saw him tally 3750 runs at 53.57 for the team. For Wellington, he has now scored 491 first-class runs in 10 innings and 263 in seven List A innings, at an average of 52.60.
Elsewhere in the Plunket Shield, Zimbabwe-born New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme scored 115 from 153 balls for Northern Districts versus Canterbury to warm up for the tour of the UAE to face Pakistan later this month.
