Conway called into Black Caps camp
Devon Conway is one name that leaps off the page as the Black Caps begin their Twenty20 World Cup countdown today, a week before England’s arrival.
The South African top-order batsman is one of 24 cricketers summoned to Lincoln, near Christchurch, for intra-squad T20 matches today and tomorrow as the five-match series opener looms at Hagley Oval on November 1.
Tim Southee and Henry Nicholls will captain the respective lineups, with regular skipper Kane Williamson not arriving until tomorrow on return from England.
Williamson and all the Black Caps frontliners except Lockie Ferguson, still recovering from a fractured thumb, will also be available for the first round of Plunket Shield next Monday.
Conway, 28, was named New Zealand Cricket’s men’s domestic player of the season after some prolific form for Wellington, but doesn’t become eligible for Black Caps selection until next September.
That will be a month before the T20 showpiece in Australia, and three years since Conway arrived from Johannesburg to settle in Wellington and chase international cricket.
Still, coach Gary Stead has seen enough to ease Conway into the fold ahead of time, after the left-hander was summoned to NZC’s winter training camps.
‘‘The process around a player like Devon, if he was to be selected, is a really complicated one. There’s a lot of paperwork to go through,’’ Stead said.
‘‘We like the skills that he has as a player and this gives us an opportunity to see a little bit more of him at a level up from firstclass cricket.
‘‘He looks like he could have the goods to play international cricket and that’s part of these camps, is finding out more.’’
Stead already has a T20 toporder selection headache for England, with Williamson returning after being rested for the Black Caps’ 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka under Southee last month.
To fit him in, either Martin Guptill or Colin Munro misses out, or wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert shuffles down the order with Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor having formed an effective union at four and five.
‘‘There’s 26 [T20] games between now and the World Cup to get clear on how we want to play, and who are the people that fit into those roles,’’ Stead said.
‘‘That [top order] is a little problem that we have, that four doesn’t fit into three and that’s what we have to work out.’’
Glenn Phillips, back from being fourth-highest runscorer at the Caribbean Premier League with 374 at a strike rate of 145, and Hamish Rutherford are the other top-order batsmen at Bert Sutcliffe Oval this week.
Ferguson is back bowling after suffering the thumb injury in Sri Lanka, and is cleared to resume fielding next week. Stead rated Ferguson – one of their stars of the World Cup in England – likely for the England series opener.
Fast bowler Adam Milne (ankle) and batsman Tom Bruce (knee) are recovering from minor surgery while Munro and Jimmy Neesham are the other absentees this week as they return from the CPL.
Former Black Caps bowling coach Shane Bond will also be involved in this week’s camp and Stead said he would feature on the coaching staff at various stages, depending on his commitments as head coach of Sydney Thunder in the Australian Big Bash League.