ENG vs NZ: Devon Conway registers his fourth ODI century
New Zealand opener Devon Conway played a match-defining knock against England in the first ODI at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The experienced batter clocked his fourth ODI century. He held the NZ innings together with a watchful 111* off 121 deliveries which eventually allowed the Kiwis to win the match by eight wickets. His knock was laced with 13 boundaries and a six.
A match-winning knock from Conway
Conway has been in sensational form off late and he proved his mettle once again. He and Will Young added 61 runs before the latter departed. But the dasher continued and added 56 runs with Henry Nicholls, taking the total beyond the 110-run mark. Later, he had an inspiring 180*-run partnership with Daryl Mitchell as they steered the Kiwis home with twin centuries.
A look at his ODI numbers
Playing his 19th ODI, Conway has surpassed 800 runs in this format. He has raced to 844 runs at an impressive average of 52.75. The 32-year-old has slammed four hundreds and three fifties in this format. This was his first ODI clash against England and he made the most of the opportunity by hammering a stunning ton.
Highest ODI partnership against England in Cardiff
As per statistician Kausthub Gudipati, Conway and Mitchell registered the highest ODI partnership against England in Cardiff. They broke the record of Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid's 170-run stand from 2011. Sarfaraz Khan and Shoaib Malik's 163-run stand (2016) takes third place, while the Indian pairing of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina's 144-run partnership (2014) completes the top four.
Conway and Mitchell scripted these partnership records
As per ESPNcricinfo, Conway and Mitchell's 180*-run stand is NZ's third-highest ODI partnership against England for any wicket. They are only behind Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor's 206-run partnership from 2015 and Taylor and Latham's 187-run stand in 2018. It is also the second-highest third-wicket partnership for NZ against England in ODIs. Overall, it is the seventh-highest partnership in England versus NZ ODIs.
Conway's form since 2021
Conway made his debut against Bangladesh in March 2021 and since then he has been NZ's third-highest scorer in ODIs. He has amassed 844 runs in 18 matches at an average of 52.75. He has slammed four centuries and three fifties in this format. Only Tom Latham (1,066) and Mitchell (947) have scored more runs for the Kiwis ever since Conway made his debut.
How did the match pan out?
England were invited to bat first and they did reasonably well to post 291/6 from their 50 overs. Four batters - Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone slammed fifties while Rachin Ravindra starred for NZ with 3/48. In reply, NZ had a great start as Conway kept the innings together. He had a fantastic partnership with Mitchell to steer them home.
