ODI World Cup 2023: Rise of Devon Conway - New Zealand's run-machine at the top

Devon Conway had big responsibilities on him when Kane Williamson-less New Zealand came out to chase 284 against England in the ODI World Cup 2023 opener in Ahmedabad on October 5. The southpaw delivered in style, scoring 152 not out off just 121 balls as the Kiwis beat their 2019 World Cup dream breaker by nine wickets.

Conway lost his opening partner Will Young for a golden duck in the second over itself but ensured that he held one end as Rachin Ravindra (123 not out) took on the bowlers from the other end. Together, the duo stitched a 273-run partnership for the second wicket as the Black Caps handed the defending champions a nine-wicket drubbing.

Talking about Conway, the batsman has been on the rise ever since making his international debut for New Zealand in November 2020. The 32-year-old, however, has been a stalwart of New Zealand domestic cricket for a decade or so.

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Conway made his first-class debut in 2009 and has featured in 126 games so far. The batsman has scored 8,654 in FC cricket so far, hitting 22 hundreds and 41 fifties with the highest score of 327. His List A record is equally impressive with 4,165 runs in 106 matches since making his debut in February 2009. The opener also has an impressive record in T20s, scoring 5,550 runs in 168 games at a strike rate of 128.

New Zealand cricket duly called him up for the internationals after his exploits in domestic cricket and handed him a debut in T20Is against West Indies in late 2020. The batter responded immediately with a fifty in his second game itself. As of now, he has played in 41 T20Is, scoring 1,248 runs at an average of 41 and a highest score of 99 not out.

Next, he made his debut in ODIs in March 2021, and hit a century in his third game - 126 against Bangladesh after scoring 72 in the second match of his career. The batsman has five ODI hundreds to his name in 23 matches and four have come this year - second only to five ODI tons by India's Shubman Gill.

The batsman also repaid the faith shown in him in the Tests, scoring a double hundred in his debut innings against England in June 2021 at the Lord's. Overall, Conway has 1,403 runs in 16 Tests with four hundreds and eight fifties in 29 innings.