Interesting Records, Unknown Facts About New Zealand's New Batting Sensation Devon Conway

Devon Conway, who shares his birthday with Sourav Ganguly on 8th July, has been the new batting sensation for New Zealand. Conway immediately impressed everyone with his batting and rose through the ranks to become the fourth-best T20 Batter, according to ICC rankings, in no time. He played a significant role in New Zealand's triumph over India to win the World Test Championship(WTC) Final last month. 

Here is a list of interesting records and facts about Devon Conway: 

1) Conway was born in South Africa's Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, in 1991. He played most of his domestic cricket in South Africa only, before moving to New Zealand in 2017. 

2) Conway's first love was football since his father was a coach at a local club. He used to play alongside friend Elton Jantjies, who went on to play for the Springboks. 

3) Conway's first coach, when he was 12, was former South African cricketer Jimmy Cook. 

4) Former South African opener, Neil McKenzie, was someone who Conway had a deep connection and idolized. 

5) Conway's friends - Malcolm Nofal and Michael Rippon - who also played domestic cricket in South Africa, encouraged him to move to New Zealand. 

6) Conway got included in Wellington's squad for the 2018-19 Plunkett shield and made an instant impact. He went on to win the Domestic Player of the Year title for both 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. He also won the Men's Super Smash player of the year in 2019-20. 

7) In the 2019-20 season, Devon Conway smashed an unbeaten 327 against Canterbury. In that season, the left-handed opener became the first player to top the run-scoring charts in all three formats.

8) It was just a matter of time before Conway got the national callup. In August 2020, he became eligible to play for New Zealand, and in November, he made his T20I debut against West Indies. 

9) However, it was the test debut that took Conway to heights. In June 2021, against England, he became the first visiting debutant to hit a double century in England. 

10) Devon Conway has played a total of 111 first-class matches in which he has scored 7,509 runs, including 19 centuries. He has so far represented New Zealand in 14 T20Is, three ODIs, and three Test Matches.