10 best knocks by night-watchmen in Tests
Night-watchmen have become a rather rare breed of late. While the original premise of sending in these lower-order batsmen was to shield the more capable ones from poor light or exhaustion, captains seldom use this tactic,as it exposes such players to the better bowlers in the rival camp. Their primary job is to stay at the wicket for long periods, holding one end up, while the batsman at the other end goes about scoring freely.However, there have been cases where these dour, stodgy cricketingsouls have made merry out in the middleand have been chief architects of comprehensive as well as unlikely victories. It makes you wonderabout the extent of their capabilities with the willow? Or whether they belong to the lowerorder? Perhapsthese were just flashes in the pan, but then the list I have conjured after a week of intensive research actually speaks volumes of their blade-swinging abilities.Heres a look at ten of the best innings ever played by night-watchmen:
#10 Nicky Boje (85 v India, Bangalore, 1999-2000)
India were bound to struggle to save themselves from the ignominy of going down tamely to yet another opposition. After all, they only managed to post 158 on the board against the likes of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, the fiery Nantie Hayward, and Jacques Kallis. A fine bowling performance was, therefore, more than necessary to polish off the South African line-up, and it had to be done quickly.
But left-arm spinner Nicky Boje had other ideas. Coming in as a night-watchman after the lion-hearted Anil Kumble took out Herschelle Gibbs early, the southpaw paired up well with the resolute Gary Kirsten as he frustrated the home attack for nearly four hours. Moving fluidly, gracefully, the Bloemfontein lad negotiated Javagal Srinath, Kumble and the remaining bowlers without so much as a blink; some of the shots he played would have made even the hard-nosed of top-order batsmen proud.
Boje finished with 85, six runs more than Kirsten. His innings laid the platform for Kallis, Daryll Cullinan and Lance Klusener to attack freely, who all went past 50. Despite a gritty century by Mohammad Azharuddin in India’s second essay, the Proteas wrapped up the 2-match series with an innings and 71-run victory.