Devon Conway Batted On His Test Debut As If To The Manner Born: Nasser Hussain

Former England captain-turned commentator Nasser Hussain has heaped high praise on New Zealand opener Devon Conway for scoring a sublime hundred on Test debut against England at Lord’s on the opening day of the first Test on Wednesday.

The South African-born New Zealand International gave a brilliant account of himself against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad to become the 12th Kiwi batter to score a hundred on Test debut.

Conway finished the day on an unbeaten 136 and along with Henry Nicholls, led New Zealand to 3/246 with an unbeaten 132-run-stand.

In his column for the ‘Daily Mail”, Nasser Hussain wrote that Conway played a “lovely innings” where he let the bowlers come to him.

”Devon Conway played a lovely innings, in which he let the bowlers come to him, and batted on his Test debut as if to the manner born. And England’s bowlers put in a challenging shift on a difficult surface… In Conway, they had just the player to make good use of a nice batting strip,” Hussain wrote.

"Now you know you what it's like bro!" A great @HomeOfCricket Honours Board story from Devon Conway #ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/mZgGMv2yRF

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) June 2, 2021

Hussain further wrote that the most striking aspect of Devon Conway’s innings was that he was prepared to grit it out against the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad during the duo’s initial spells.

“The tourists’ coach, Gary Stead, has spoken about picking on character, and somehow New Zealand just find a way of producing these tough cricketers. He had a nice rhythm to his batting, and he wasn’t afraid to suck up a tough spell when Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad were making it swing after lunch,” wrote Hussain.

”We’ve seen all around the world in recent years how openers have struggled against the new ball, but Conway looked a natural. I spoke to the New Zealand commentator Simon Doull about him before play, and he just said ‘we’ve got another one in the mould of Kane Williamson – he bats long and he bats time. Conway bats on middle stump, has a fluency to his game, and plays beside the ball, which opens up different scoring areas,” Hussain added.

”There is a lot to be said for leaving it (the ball) when necessary and letting the bowler come to you. That’s what Conway did so well here,” Nasser Hussain wrote.

Meanwhile, Devon Conway has become the first visiting batsman after former Indian captain and current BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly, to score a Test hundred at Lord’s in his debut knock since 1990.

Sourav Ganguly scored a brilliant 131 on his Test debut at Lord’s in the summer of 1996. Conway (136*) has not only broken Ganguly’s record for most runs on debut at Lord’s but he has also become the highest run-scorer on debut by a New Zealand, beating Kane Williamson’s score of 131 which he made against India in Ahmedabad in 2010.

The left-hander will now look to continue from where he left on day 01 and hopefully convert it into a double-hundred.

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