Devon Conway pushes his case for Lord's Test in face of 'intimidation' from Williamson in opposition

Having broken through in the New Zealand Test squad for the tour of England, left-handed Devon Conway capitalised the only opportunity of impressing the Blackcaps management before the selection of the playing XI for the first Test starting June 02 at Lord’s. 

In the intra-squad game being played in Southampton before the Blackcaps will move to London, Conway was at his best opening the batting along with first-choice opener Tom Latham and put on a solid 100-run partnership to thwart the Kane Williamson-led side that had Tim Southe, Neil Wagner, Jacob Tuffy and Micthell Santner in it.

Conway was ecstatic at living through the opportunity to bat along with Latham who he keeps in high regard for his discipline and shot selection as a Test opener. He did not waste the opportunity though only by learning but scored a good unbeaten 55 to stake claim on becoming Latham partner’s in the first Test as well.

"Good opportunity to bat with him [Latham] out in the middle. Fortunately, we are both left-handers, so I could just feed off a couple of things that he was doing. He is very experienced, knows his game inside out. Just watching how he goes about things, not only in today's game but in training and his discipline around, his shot selection, the way he plays his game, it's pretty awesome to learn from. Just to be there at the other end was pretty exciting and good learnings throughout the day.

Although he was excited to learn and bat along with Latham he got a fair bit of idea of the challenges as well by the sight of having Kane Williamson, Tim Southee in the opposition camp. Conway said that the sight of Williamson having a close eye from the gully region turned out to be an intimidating experience of a sort in the intra-squad game.

"You've got Kane Williamson there at gully watching you bat. That's pretty intimidating, one of the best guys watching you go about your business. Then also fronting up and facing guys like Tim Southee, who have been there for a long time. I didn't get the opportunity to bat with Ross Taylor today, which was a bit unfortunate, but hopefully one day I'll get that chance,” Conway added.

Conway has batted at the number three position for his domestic side Wellington Firebirds and in the middle order for New Zealand white-ball sides, but for the Test match, he is competing with Tom Blundell for an opener’s position. He, however, does not see this as much of a challenge and instead has opted to focus on getting the basic right and backing his own game. He said that there is no hesitancy from his side on the batting position and he is ready to bat anywhere as the team asks him to bat.

"There's probably not too much difference to be fair. Sometimes if you're batting three, you could be in in the first over. So it's just about backing your game plan, backing the way you play, and just staying true to that as much as you can, regardless of the situation. It's just about adjusting to the surface and being positive throughout.”

"I like to see myself as a guy who bats anywhere really. If the opportunity presents itself to bat up the order in Test cricket or ODIs or Twenty20, I would be happy to take that with both hands. It's just a number. At the end of the day, it's about adjusting to different scenarios and situations of the game and just batting accordingly."

Conway’s emergence as a fluent batsman has given the Blackcaps management a good selection headache going into the Test series against England. They have to make a choice between Tom Blundell who can also keep and Conway who will bring firepower and momentum-shifting batting at the top of the order to complement an ever so reliable Tom Latham.