The sport of cricket has many vital roles that can go a long way to securing victory. Although the primary positions of batter and bowler hog most of the spotlight, there’s many less commonly known attributes required within the team.
Here, DAZN looks at the nightwatchman in cricket and what he or she must do to fulfil the job they’ve been provided with.
What is a nightwatchman?
A nightwatchman in cricket is a bowler or lower order batsman who comes in much earlier than required to help his team see out the day’s play and preserve a better batsman for the following day’s play. A cricket team has 11 players and when batting, the typical order of batters goes in order of quality.
Bowlers are not usually expected to contribute massively with the bat but when the day is closing out and tiredness could be setting in, captains may sometimes send out a bowler rather than a batsman and instruct him to play safely to get through to the next day’s play. The role doesn’t require the nightwatchman to score many runs, rather to play defensively and prevent the loss of further wickets.
Although a widely used tactic, the strategy does have weaknesses if the nightwatchman is dismissed early in his innings. This can lead to a batsman coming out who has perhaps spent all day in the field, and he’s then required to secure his wicket and also score runs.
Who are cricket’s best nightwatchmen?
Below is a list of players who would frequently serve as nightwatchmen for their country
- Jason Gillespie (Australia)
- James Anderson (England)
- Matthew Hoggard (England)
- Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan)
- Nathan Lyon (Australia)
- Ishant Sharma (India)
- Mark Boucher (South Africa)
Do Nightwatchmen ever score big runs?
There have been several instances where a nightwatchman has scored a century including a double ton from Jason Gillespie. Here is the list of centuries by nightwatchmen as recognised by ESPNcricinfo:
- Nasim-ul-Ghani – 101: Pakistan vs. England, 1962
- Tony Mann – 105: Australia vs. India, 1977
- Syed Kirmani – 101: India vs. Australia, 1979
- Mark Boucher – 125: South Africa vs. Zimbabwe, 1999
- Mark Boucher – 108: South Africa vs. England, 1999
- Jason Gillespie – 201: Australia vs. Bangladesh, 2006