Devon Conway was out of the New Zealand T20I set-up for a while as the likes of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen strengthened their spots with consistent performances. However, with Allen out with an injury, the door opened for Conway to return, and the opener proved his worth in the second match against Zimbabwe, scoring a half-century. He made an unbeaten 59 runs off 40 deliveries, as New Zealand won the match by eight wickets. Later, the 32-year-old was also adjudged the Player of the Match.
After the game, Conway noted that it was great for him to be back in the T20I set-up and noted that Allen’s injury was unfortunate, but it opened the gates for him. He also talked about his return, stating that he is elated to see a couple of faces that he hasn’t seen for a long time.
“It's great to be back in this environment. It's been a while, so just getting the call-up to come back into the squad is fantastic. Obviously, Finn Allen's injury is unfortunate but for me it's nice to get that opportunity to be with the squad again and see a couple of faces who I haven't seen in a long period of time. And it was nice to contribute today to the win,” Conway said in the post-match press conference.
Thankfully, we only had only had to chase 121 runs: Conway
Even though New Zealand were asked to chase only 121 runs, Conway noted that the surface wasn’t easy for them to get going. He added that the left-arm seamer Richard Ngarava made it difficult at the top and since there was a steep bounce in the surface, it wasn’t easy to bat on. He addressed the massive challenge and mentioned that things could have gone tricky had they were asked to chase more.
“There was a lot of steep bounce in the surface, which was a little bit unexpected, but we adjusted and thankfully we only had to chase 121 and managed to get across the line. With the new ball, especially their left-armer [Ngarava] was a massive challenge for us as batters. They bashed that wicket really hard and got a lot of steep bounce out of it, so it made it pretty hard for us batters early,” Conway said.