{"id":494055,"date":"2026-06-25T01:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/494055\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T01:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:24:12","slug":"black-caps-v-england-devon-conways-sacrifice-hailed-by-coach-rob-walter-in-push-for-test-series-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/494055\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Caps v England: Devon Conway\u2019s sacrifice hailed by coach Rob Walter in push for test series win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even while he was casually contracted<\/a>, Conway played all but one of the Black Caps\u2019 tests \u2013 and that was to attend the birth of his first child. He re-signed with NZ Cricket earlier this year<\/a>, despite the potential lost earnings.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the eve of the series decider against England in Nottingham, coach Rob Walter hailed the sacrifice Conway has made for the good of the team, as they try to achieve what would be just New Zealand\u2019s eighth win on English soil, in close to a century of the two sides playing each other. <\/p>\n

\"DevonDevon Conway bats against England at Lord’s. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cDev doesn\u2019t give much away, to be fair,\u201d Walter said. \u201cBut he loves playing for the Black Caps, he loves test cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sacrifice to be made; this game demands a fair bit of us. I think everyone involved in cricket has made sacrifices along the way. The families do suffer here and there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m chuffed he was able to get home, see the new one, and support his wife in that little window he had. Hopefully, he\u2019ll have another window after this test.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s fully focused, present, and ready for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conway isn\u2019t alone. This year\u2019s Twenty20 World Cup campaign saw Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson travel home from India to welcome new children before quickly travelling back to play.<\/p>\n

At a time when cricketers are being given increasing reasons to walk away from the international game, the Black Caps are bucking that trend.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s strong culture ensures players not only want to turn out but succeed when they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just reaffirms what I knew around the dedication of the lads to the team,\u201d Walter said. \u201cFor me as coach, it\u2019s actually about keeping that dedication in check to make sure there\u2019s a balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere still has to be a family that\u2019s considered, but it\u2019s wonderful that the guys place such a huge value on playing for the Black Caps. That\u2019s something we cherish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a world that\u2019s fast pulling national players away and challenging that. To see that level of dedication and investment in the team is great, as a coach, to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves on our environment and making it a place people want to come back to. If that\u2019s a sign we\u2019re getting that right, it\u2019s nothing we take lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Caps predicted third test XI: 1. Tom Latham (c), 2. Devon Conway, 3. Henry Nicholls, 4. Rachin Ravindra, 5. Daryl Mitchell, 6. Tom Blundell (wk), 7. Glenn Phillips, 8. Mitchell Santner, 9. Nathan Smith, 10. Matt Henry, 11. Will O\u2019Rourke<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even while he was casually contracted, Conway played all but one of the Black Caps\u2019 tests \u2013 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1443,7022,3595,42574,1320,25089,247389,82401,1634,2082,16555,28726,78,13631,111,139,69,1523,15400,9831,77461,5945,1963,213,765,8982,37116,4524,6923,6027],"class_list":["post-494055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-about","tag-black","tag-by","tag-caps","tag-coach","tag-commitment","tag-conways","tag-devon","tag-england","tag-for","tag-form","tag-hailed","tag-in","tag-never","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-push","tag-question","tag-rob","tag-sacrifice","tag-series","tag-sports","tag-test","tag-victory","tag-walter","tag-want","tag-what","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}