Devon Conway hits double century on debut, joins elite list

New Zealand opening batsman Devon Conway has had a perfect start to his Test career. The southpaw scored a fine double century on debut before he was run-out. Conway has broken and made new records after he scored a fine knock.

He became the first batsman to hit a double hundred against England on debut in a Test match. Conway became the first New Zealander to score a double century on debut since Matthew Sinclair achieved the same feat back in 1999. Overall, he is the seventh player to do so.

Conway reached his hundred with a four whereas he got to his double century with a six while batting with No.11 Neil Wagner. Furthermore, Conway’s knock of 200 is the third highest for a left-handed batsman as he leapfrogged Shikhar Dhawan’s record of 187 runs, which he scored against Australia.

Only South Africa’s Jacques Rudolph (222) and West Indies Kyle Mayers (210) have scored more as left-handed batsmen on debut than Conway.

New Zealand scored 378 runs and more than half of their runs were scored by Conway. Interestingly, Conway had never opened the innings in first-class cricket but he was able to grab his opportunity while playing for the national team at the Mecca of Cricket, Lord’s.

Earlier, Conway had broken Sourav Ganguly’s 25-year old record of highest score on Test debut at Lord’s. The former Indian skipper had scored a fine knock of 131 runs in 1996 at Lord’s against England in his maiden Test match.

Furthermore, Conway broke legendary KS Ranjitsinhji’s 125-year old record. Ranjitsinhji had scored 154 runs at Manchester in 1896 against Australia and held the record of highest score on debut in England.

Conway has had a dream start and he will look to continue the same.