What is a Nightwatchman in Cricket?

Cricket is one of those games that has evolved and changed to a great extent since it was introduced. ‘The Gentleman’s Game’ is known for its unique rules and the way it has changed many aspects of the game.

The game was earlier played in one format, i.e., Test cricket. Later on, the 50-over format was introduced, and in 2005, T20 cricket was introduced. Different rules and innovative ideas have been introduced in all three formats.

In T20 cricket, the umpire can give five penalty runs to the batting team if the bowling team is purposely wasting time. In case of a tie, there is a Super Over between the two teams to decide the winner.

In the limited-overs format, batters who normally bat lower down the order but are powerful hitters can be promoted to the top to accelerate the scoring. It doesn’t mean he is better than the other batters but he is promoted due to his ability to score at a quick rate, which is why he is known as the ‘pinch hitter.’

In Test cricket too, there is such a unique rule where a lower-order batter who is primarily a bowler is promoted to the top and is also known as a nightwatchman. We take a look at the exact meaning of nightwatchman in cricket in detail:

What is Nightwatchman in cricket?

A night watchman is primarily a bowler or a batter who bats at the lower order but is promoted up the order. The batting team normally sends a nightwatchman to pull the innings through without losing a wicket.

A nightwatchman is sent at the end of a day’s play in a Test match before a specialist batter to keep that specialist batter fresh for the next day. A nightwatchman doesn’t score heavily, but he is sent to pull the innings through until the day’s play ends to protect the wicket of other specialist batters who might be tired after spending 2 to 3 sessions on the field.

A Nightwatchman is sent by the batting team to play as many balls as possible, even though he doesn’t score enough runs, with the intention of keeping wickets intact from one end. If a nightwatchman manages to survive the evening session and his wicket remains intact for the next day, then he is instructed to stay at the wicket as long as possible.

However, in many cases, a nightwatchman tends to lose his wicket early the next day or sometimes as soon as he is sent on the same day in the evening, which sometimes affects the game plan of the batting team. The concept of nightwatchman is here to stay for quite some time in Test cricket.

Notable Performance from Nightwatchman in Cricket

There have been some outstanding contributions by some players in the past who were sent as nightwatchmen.

Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie scored a double century against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2006 when he was sent in as a nightwatchman, helping his team win the match and achieving a record of scoring a test double hundred, which many competent batters failed to achieve.

Read Next | 5 Similarities between Cricket and Baseball