Now you know how it feels bro: Conway greeted by skipper Williamson on historic debut hundred

Devon Conaway was the star of the day in the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s. He was not only the first non-English debutant in 25 years to score a century at the Lord’s, but also went on to become the highest scorer in a debut innings at the iconic ground. The best part is he carried the bat to the dressing room and will come back again on day two to continue from where he had left.

It was when he went to the dressing room that he was greeted by his captain Kane Williamson in a manner, which the South Africa born might remember all his life. Describing the situation, Conway said, “It’s a pretty special feeling. When we arrived at Lord’s a couple of days ago, we walked into the change room and had an opportunity to have a look at the names of the legends on the honour’s board. Funny enough, I had a conversation with Kane and asked what it feels like to see his name up on that board.”

“When I walked in the change room today, the first thing he said, ‘Now, you know what it feels like bro’,” added the left-hander who is unbeaten at 136.

Talking about his knock, Conway believes that it will take a day or two for him to let that special feeling sink in. “A special, special day you know. I don’t think I could have dreamt of something like that happening and it will certainly take a few days for me to let it sink in,” he said.

New Zealand had a brilliant start to their first session, after having elected to bat first on a sunny day at the home of cricket. Conway, who put on a 58-run partnership with Tom Latham was grateful that a batting-friendly condition was available to him. “We started off in a beautiful sunny condition and a lot of the guys say that when it’s nice and sunny at the Lord’s, it’s a batting day. So I tried to make the most of it,” said the 29-year-old.

However, for the first three overs, the Wellington Firebirds player didn’t get to strike thanks to Tom Latham who played all the deliveries. Conway was actually pleased that he did not take strike for that long.

“I was actually pretty grateful. It gave me the opportunity to sort of watch from the non-striker’s end as to how the ball was holding and what it was doing off the wicket,” he said. “And I got a chance to have those conversations with him [Latham]. It git a bit nerve-wracking and we probably joked, ‘gee is it the longest that someone hasn’t faced a ball on Test debut?’,” added the man who has an average of more than 50 in all three formats so far.

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Watch: India Men’s and Women’s depart for England tour

The Indian Men’s and Women’s team departed for England at around 12 am Thursday, June 3 from Mumbai. The two teams will travel together in a chartered flight to the English shores. The Men’s team, which would be staying in England for more than three months has been allowed to take close family with them as well. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared the photos of the team’s departure on their official Twitter handle. While the Women’s team’s journey starts with the one-off Test at Bristol against England Women, the Men’s team under captain Virat Kohli would take on Kane Williamson’s men in the inaugural World Test Championship Final at Southampton starting June 18. Post the WTC the Men’s will have a long break before they return in action on August 4 for the first of the five Tests against England. The Women’s team however will play three ODIs and three T20Is against the English Women to end the tour in July itself. Five members of the Women’s side including Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma will, however, stay put take part in the inaugural edition of The Hundred, a franchise-based 100 ball tournament envisaged by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Pat Cummins, Jofra Archer & others to take part in charity stream for India's Covid-19 relief

International cricket stars would collaborate on a 12-hour gaming live-stream hosted by Australia paceman Josh Lalor on his Twitch page to raise $100,000 for UNICEF Australia's India COVID-19 Crisis Appeal. The stream will see the likes of Aussie bowlers Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood on a live stream as they talk cricket and show their wares as gamers. The stream would begin From 5 pm AEST on Thursday, June 3 and go on until 5 am AEST on Friday, June 4. Englishman Jofra Archer, Aussie all-rounder Moises Henriques, Southern Stars’ Alyssa Healy and South African Rilee Rossouw will also be part of the steam at some point or the other. Lalor, the brain behind the concept will also host an informal discussion with Cricket Australia's new CEO, Nick Hockley and Todd Greenberg, the CEO of the Australian Cricketers' Association. "The enjoyable thing about it is it'll be a couple of guys doing what they do in their spare time, which the public don’t get to see a lot of," Lalor told cricket.com.au. "We see Pat Cummins doing what he does on the cricket field, but he's one of the worst (video game) players you can play with! Which is fair enough because he's busy doing other things in cricket,” said the predominantly T20 bowler who has represented Melbourne Renegades and Brisbane Heat in the BBL. Popular games like Warzone and Rocket League will feature, while Lalor and Healy will indulge in a light-hearted, interactive game of 'Siblings or Dating?'. Henriques on the other hand has challenged his New South Wales mate for a game of Chess which will also be part of the Live Stream. The 33-year-old, who was inspired by Pat Cummins’ $50,000 donation says that any help to the Indians in this time of crisis is worth a try. "Being a cricketer from Australia, we have a unique relationship with Indian people. It's a beautiful part of the world, they're absolutely cricket-mad and they bend over backwards to make every cricketer feel welcomed and accommodated,” he said. "If we're able to raise any money at all to help what's going on in India, that'll go a long way," Lalor added. So far, the Australian Cricket has raised $280,000 as part of UNICEF Australia's India Covid-19 Crisis Appeal.

ENG vs NZ | 1st Test Day 1: Ton-up Devon Conway, disciplined Henry Nicholls put Blackcaps in front

A magnificent debut ton from opening batsman Devon Conway and an unbeaten partnership between him and Henry Nicholls has put New Zealand in the driving seat of the first Test match at Lord’s. Devon Conway batted with superb discipline around his off stump and did not get rattled even as England asked the fiery Mark Wood to test his height and backfoot game. The opener got hurt on few occasions but was equally to task on most of the challenges thrown by the England bowling attack that struggled for penetration on a pitch offering not much assistance. He became the 12the Blackcaps batsman to score a debut century in Test cricket. England would have hoped for a comeback after the fall of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in a short period of play but Henry Nicholls led riposte from another end and played a perfect second fiddle role to combat England bowling line up that had both James Anderson and Stuart Broad in it after a long long time. Anderson provided England with probably the most prized wicket of Kane Williamson when the Blackcaps skipper played far too late at an incoming delivery and the ball trickled on to his stumps. Both England and New Zealand fielded debutants in the first Test and the first sequence of action began from their arsenal only. Conway got New Zealand going with some crisp shots while England’s bowling debutant Ollie Robinson started off his career and opened England’s account with the wicket of Tom Latham after the Blackcaps duo had put on a 58-run partnership. He came back in the afternoon session to trap an uncomfortable-looking Ross Taylor in front of the wicket. The next man in, Nicholls batted with exemplary patience to not allow England any more breach as Conway continued on his merry way punishing boundary balls and pushing his nose towards the three-figure. The moment came with a six that came in perfect presentation of Conway’s flair throughout the day as he deposited Robinson over square leg boundary with a wristy whip off his legs. The pitch appeared to be flat overall except for a phase in the afternoon session when all England bowlers particularly Broad found some help. He changed his angle of attack to round the wicket to sow seeds of doubt in the batsmen’s minds but the surface was not that helpful for him to have a full go with all his tricks. England did not pick any spinner and Joe Root trusted his off-spin to produce respite to the pace quartet however the move did not pay dividends as England started to look ragged in the field in the face of a resilient and solid partnership between Nicholls and Conway. Joe Root would be hoping for an early breakthrough tomorrow with the second new ball or else they will be in for a long day in the field and a challenging few days ahead with the bat in hand against a bowling attack comprising of Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Kyle Jamieson and also a spinner in the form of Mitchell Santner who can come in handy in the last innings if the sun continues to shine in London over the next four days.

ENG vs NZ | Devon Conway scores ton, earns place on Lord's Honours Boards on Test debut

The love story of left-handed batsmen and Lord's continues. After a fantastic white-ball year with New Zealand, Devon Conway has repaid the faith shown in him by the team management and scored a well-compiled century on Test debut at Lord’s against England. He brought up his three-figure with a flick of the wrist for six off Ollie Robinson and became the 12th New Zealand batsman to score a century on Test debut. He was picked ahead of Tom Blundell to open the batting alongside Tom Latham and he looked confident and measured from the word go. He held his composure although wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end as an-all pace England bowling attack kept chipping away with big wickets of Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor At the start, New Zealand skipper Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first on a sunny day in London. In, what a Test of discipline for the host nation, the pace quartet of the English team had to work hard to eke out three big scalps from the Kiwi side. Conway too was tested in the initial overs by James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who kept their lengths very full to make use of whatever movement they could find in the air. Once Conway negotiated the same, managing to survive a couple of inside edges, he was thrown into a duel again Mark Wood and his express pace. Consistently bowling at a pace of 150 kilometres per hour, Wood copped Conway only a couple of occasions but managed to survive. The left-hander grew increasingly confident in his stride in the lunch session and played as the primary aggressor in the batting line-up, hovering around a strike rate of 50 runs per 100 balls. He looked in a hurry after reaching his 90 and hit two boundaries to get to his hundred.