'Devon Conway similar to Jadeja in white-ball cricket and Pujara in Tests', says Wellington coach Glenn Pocknall [Exclusive]

On June 4th, 2021, just as a pacy delivery from England seamer Mark Wood flew off the top-edge of New Zealand debutant Devon Conway's bat in the 122nd over of the first Test at Lord's, it was only natural that the first feeling was one of worry.

Up until then, Conway had made his way to 194* and had already broken a slew of records. It would have only been cruel had the ball headed straight into a fielder's hands, but such was the southpaw's storied journey that Lady Luck was indeed smiling at her new favourite ward.

Just as the ball bisected one man at square leg and another at fine leg to land a few inches outside the field of play, Conway removed his helmet and soaked in all the applause. As if scoring a debut hundred at Lord's wasn't enough, he went on to pile on a 100 more runs, adding another feather to his cap with a knock for the ages.

While that knock elicited vociferous applause from each person present at the stadium, a few 11,000 miles away in Wellington, Conway's coach Glenn Pocknall was forced into a subdued celebration.

As much as it pained Pocknall that he couldn't jump up in joy, punch his fists in the air and celebrate Conway's new marvel, the wee hours in New Zealand had the Wellington coach at their ruling. Yet, all the hours of work put into getting Conway ready for international cricket had finally paid off in a bigger way than expected.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Pocknall speaks about his first interactions with Conway, which Indian cricketers' styles are similar to that of the southpaw's and what the knock means to the future of Wellington cricket.

Q. How did you celebrate Devon Conway’s double hundred back at home? Did you have a conversation with him?

It was 4-5 in the morning here, I was watching it and the rest of my family was asleep. I couldn’t quite cheer, I couldn’t raise my arms and wake the whole house. I sat there silently, I was in a little bit of a shock to be honest, what he’s achieved is unbelievable. I went to bed but I couldn’t sleep because I was in a high of what he had done. From my perspective, I knew he was capable of achieving great things because he’s done so much for Wellington. There were expectations that he could do it but not to this level, so simply superb.

To answer the second part, I've just left him to it. I know he’ll be inundated with requests and people wanting to talk to him. When he gets some quiet time we’ll have a bit of a de-brief.

Q. Can you recollect his early struggles of setting into the system at Wellington, and the tough yards he put in?

There was a huge amount of pressure, like in his debut and that’s the beauty of seeing him succeed. He’s had to do that for the last four years and in South Africa as well. Every time he gets an opportunity in NZ whether it's a trial, first class or T20 debut, every single time he’s had a game in the last 4-year period there’s always been perceived pressure that if he doesn't score runs, he might not get picked again.

People think he has an unbelievable ability to handle that pressure, he sees it as an opportunity to bat. He loves batting, he looks at it in a different way. He’s got ambitions to be able to park that pressure when he goes out to bat and score runs. It just shows how strong he is mentally.

Q. Can you remember your first ever conversation with Conway? Was there any frustration within him?

I think I would say there was frustration, but he never let it on, he saw it as an opportunity. He always framed everything as an opportunity to play and do well. Most cricketers get frustrated because they want to play the highest level straight on. But he was just grateful to have an opportunity and that was the cool thing. Whether it was a club game, or an international game, he was happy to play cricket.

It’s a trademark of the type of person he is, he just wants to play cricket. Yes he’s playing international cricket and loving it, but if he were playing a street game or a net session indoors in freezing cold conditions in Wellington, he’d love it just as much. That’s a big part of who he is.

Q. Is Conway the perfect example of who a team man is in cricket?

He’s a great team man. As much as he wants to improve, he’s striving for excellence, he’s willing to pass on knowledge about how he goes about preparing for batting. You can’t ask much more from a teammate than that. He’s quite often coming back and helping out by throwing balls, he’s always giving extra. In an ideal world we’d want everyone to be at that stage because it leads to a positive atmosphere.

Q. Do you think Conway has what it takes to lead New Zealand in the near future?

I think it is a little early at this stage given he’s raw in international cricket, you look at the Blackcaps team, there are senior statesmen. He’s got potential as a captain, he's got a great cricketing brain. For the next few years he needs to focus on his batting, but if it happens in the future, it happens. He certainly has the attributes.

Q. Which players in the Indian team would you say play a similar role to Conway?

Straight away I’d like to say, might be a little out there, a little bit like Jadeja, not so much from a Test perspective, but the way Jadeja goes about his white-ball reminds me a lot about Devon. They play attacking cricket, there's a lot of flair, and they can hit the ball hard.

In terms of a top order batter, I’d probably compare him a little bit to Pujara in Tests. They are both tenacious, they both can bide time and wear down bowling attacks by defending and leaving the ball well, but they can also play strokes from a red-ball perspective.

Q. India have never faced off against Conway. Will his style of play provide the X-factor for New Zealand in the World Test Championship final?

I see it as a challenge for India if Conway and Williamson get together and bat a long time. Kane can do that and he's done it a huge amount of times in his career, Devon’s show it in this Test and on the domestic circuit. If they get in together, especially if it’s a flat wicket, it could be tough for the Indian bowlers to get them out. One unknown is the conditions of the pitch, which could play an effect.

If that happens and the pitch has variables, the Black Caps have the ability to adapt to that. The other part is how prepared the Indian batsmen are to the swinging ball, the Dukes. If the conditions are spin friendly, I think the Indian spin attack will be favoured more. It’s going to be a really good battle because there are so many little variants we don’t know about.

Q. Was Conway disappointed to have missed out from earning an IPL contract earlier this year?

He went into the auction but didn’t have expectations of being picked up, it would have been a bonus if he had been picked up. He’ll have his time and now he’s had a taste of international cricket and performed so well that the world has noticed him, he will get his opportunity.

He’s playing in the Blast in UK, probably all the IPL teams will be eyeing him up for the next series. He’s not bothered about opportunities, if he can play a game of cricket, he’s happy. If it was the IPL it would be great, if not he’ll go about his work, batting in the nets or grinding it out in some other competition somewhere.

Q. With the New Zealand domestic season set to begin in a few months, what does this knock from Conway, and in general his journey, mean for Wellington cricket?

It’ll be huge, very hard to measure. When he comes back, everyone is going to be all over him, I feel numbers will go up, more kids will play cricket. For the association and cricket community in Wellington, it is special because of his story.

He started out as a club cricketer and made it through the ranks very quickly. It was under 4 years ago that he started as a club cricketer and now he’s getting a double hundred at Lord’s. But the key thing is that Devon is the same guy, you will never know he’s been through that, he’s reached these great heights. He’s still very humble and he’s grateful.

Everyone will be buzzing when he comes back. After the innings, we noticed there was a lot more traffic of people wanting to bat and jumping on the bowling machine at the local centre. It’s little things like that will be heard to measure, but the impact will be more people watching and playing cricket. That’s going to be a great thing for world cricket as well.