'I sold my home in SA': The amazing journey of NZ's new batting sensation

Before the match, he was asking his skipper Kane Williamson how it feels like to be on the Lord's honours board. 

When Devon Conway returned to the dressing room with an unbeaten 136 to his name at stumps on day one of the Lord's Test against England, Williamson replied, "Now you know, boy."

Conway, opening the batting, played an absolutely scintillating innings on debut. He started aggressively against England opening bowlers. The left-hander slowed down a little bit at the middle phase but then picked up the pace before the hundred.

On 98, he flicked the ball flat and hard to pick up his maiden Test hundred in style. Just before stumps on day one, he went past Sourav Ganguly's 131 and became the batter with the highest individual score on debut at Lord's.

Interestingly enough, Conway shares his birthday with Ganguly.

The journey of Devon Conway has been nothing short of extraordinary. He was born and brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He scored truckloads of runs in provincial cricket, tier-2 of South Africa's domestic set-up. But he got limited opportunities in franchise four-day, one day and T20 tournaments. He used to open the innings in one format and bat at five in the other, sometimes at seven. And call-ups came from the four-day side when someone was injured. 

After years of toiling hard in domestic cricket and not getting enough chances in top-level cricket, Conway decided to shift to New Zealand where he had a couple of friends playing domestic cricket. 

This decision was life-changing for Conway. He shifted to New Zealand with very little money in August 2017, selling his house, property, and everything.

Conway topped the run charts in all three domestic competitions in the 2019-20 season in New Zealand. In October 2019, Conway scored a staggering 327 not out against Canterbury for Wellington. A call-up to the national team was certainly on the cards.

Just after the ICC confirmed that he would be eligible to play for New Zealand last year, NZC straightaway awarded him a central contract and a few months later he made his debut for New Zealand. 

Conway shone on his white-ball outings for New Zealand but the real challenge was facing the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Mark Wood in English conditions. He was given the role of an opener which he hasn't been familiar with since his shift to New Zealand. But Conway played like a seasoned campaigner with excellent control and not for one moment it looked like he was on debut. 

From playing second division cricket in South Africa to a debut hundred at Lord's- Devon Phillip Conway has come a long way.