Conway matches Clarke as golden run continues

After a brief interruption, Devon Conway has continued his prolific run-making in Test cricket with his 122 guiding New Zealand to 5-258 at stumps on day one of the first Test against Bangladesh.

South Africa-born Conway erupted onto the international scene in 2021 at the age of 29 with a double-century in his first Test innings and since has been a stand-out in all three formats.

Within the space of four Tests he's now scored a double-century, one century and two half-centuries for a total of 501 runs at an average of 83. He also averages 75 in ODIs and 50 in Twenty20s.

A broken hand suffered at the T20 World Cup in November put a brief stop to his accumulation of runs and records.

But he quickly picked up on Saturday where he left off, placing New Zealand in a strong position at stumps after losing the toss at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

In posting a hundred on Saturday, Conway became just the sixth man in history and the first since Michael Clarke in 2004 to score a century in his first Test innings both home and away.

Australian duo Harry Graham and Kepler Wessels, Pakistan's Azhar Mahmood and England's Andrew Strauss are the other men to achieve the rare feat.

The hosts lost captain Tom Latham in the fourth over and Conway navigated the difficult first hour, then flourished to reach his century after tea from 186 balls.

He seemed impregnable until he was finally out in the over before the second new ball was taken, to the relatively benign spin bowling of Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque.

Stretching forward to an unthreatening delivery that turned down the leg side, Conway got a faint edge which carried to wicketkeeper Liton Das.

Through the day he had partnerships of 138 with Will Young (52), 50 with Ross Taylor who has out for 31 in his penultimate Test and 38 with Henry Nicholls, who was 32 not out at stumps.

Tom Blundell was out for 11 in the last over of the day.

"I think (the pleasing thing) was just the partnerships we had throughout the day. It was nice to spend some time with Ross Taylor in the middle," Conway said.

"It was nice to contribute, especially after not playing for such a long period of time.

"It was challenging. The wicket was quite green this morning and we knew if we got through that tough period it would always get easier to bat on."

A century in debut Test innings at home and away

Harry Graham (Australia): v Eng at Lord's, 1893 & v Eng in Sydney, 1895

Kepler Wessels (Australia): v Eng in Brisbane, 1982 & v SL in Kandy, 1983

Azhar Mahmood (Pakistan): v SA in Rawalpindi, 1997 & v SA in Johannesburg, 1998

Andrew Strauss (England): v NZ at Lord's, 2004 & v SA in Port Elizabeth, 2004

Michael Clarke (Australia): v Ind in Bengaluru, 2004 & v NZ in Brisbane, 2004

Devon Conway (New Zealand): v Eng at Lord's, 2021 & v Ban in Mount Maunganui, 2022