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David Richardson vs Ridley Jacobs

Bolo.

International Vice-Captain
I'm sure it has happened plenty of times in the deep past, but I can't recall seeing any keeper being sent in as a night watchman other than Richardson.
 

Dendarii

International Debutant
I'm sure it has happened plenty of times in the deep past, but I can't recall seeing any keeper being sent in as a night watchman other than Richardson.
I could have sworn that Boucher had been a nightwatchman, but the highest he's ever batted was 5, so apparently not. Richardson had a pretty good record as a nightwatchman, with his two innings coming in at 3 being 50 and 48.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
I could have sworn that Boucher had been a nightwatchman, but the highest he's ever batted was 5, so apparently not. Richardson had a pretty good record as a nightwatchman, with his two innings coming in at 3 being 50 and 48.
Boucher may have batted 7 ahead of Pollock and Klusener as a nightwatchman tbh. Think it did happen in England or against England once
 

Dendarii

International Debutant
Boucher may have batted 7 ahead of Pollock and Klusener as a nightwatchman tbh. Think it did happen in England or against England once
Boucher batted most often at 7 and that South African lower order was fairly interchangeable when it came to batting positions, so it may be a little bit hazy as to whether that would have been a nightwatchman situation or not. He never served as a nightwatchman for a top order batter though, which I was a little surprised by.
 

Bolo.

International Vice-Captain
Boucher was not good bat, at least in modern WK bat terms.

But he was too good a bat to come in as a night watchman. He was (reasonably) reliably good for some runs... not many, but enough to make him useful.

You don't put a night watchman in if you believe you are sacrificing runs.

My point about Richardson was that he was a poor enough bat to sacrifice as a NW (the fact that he did well as a NW notwithstanding). When else have we seen a WK bad enough to stick in as a night watchman?
 

Bolo.

International Vice-Captain
That just looks like floating the batting order to me. They had a lot of faith in Boucher's batting around that stage. They needed to in order to justify his selection cos Pothas had been smashing it with the bat in domestic.

Weird that he came in before Jonty in the one game, but, without checking the stats, I think 99 was when Jonty reworked his game to iron away the hockey fault out of pushing inside out. Boucher, and pretty much everyone else in the world who averaged double digits was a better bat than Jonty at that stage.

I may be wrong on the timelines. Long time ago. But coming in at 6 ahead of Pollock, who was probably averaging in the 20s at that stage (his golden run of averaging in the 50s was in the 2000s), and Klusenar, who was late order massacre, even in tests, does not sound like night watchman stuff.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
In both those games he batted in different positions both innings and came in right before stumps in the innings he batted higher. It was definitely as nightwatchman IMO.
 

Bolo.

International Vice-Captain
In both those games he batted in different positions both innings and came in right before stumps in the innings he batted higher. It was definitely as nightwatchman IMO.
I label night watchman is a role that protects other better bats.

I don't remember those evenings, but i think it's likely they just thought he was most likely to survive the evening due to the compact nature of his batting. Klusenar was swinging, Jonty was inside out-out pushing, and Pollock was doing nothing at that stage.

I don't think you can call batting someone more likely to survive batting a position or 2 away from most normal spot in a floating order a NM when in relation to bats of similar quality, but it's a definitional call... you are likely correct in the fact that he may have come in later if the wicket had gone down the next day.
 

Burgey

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Yeah but I mean just because he came in ahead of Jonty Rhodes who was in the side as a specialist batsman in no way means he was a night watchman...
 

Burgey

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Also, imagine watching Kirsten make 190 odd. Man was a terrific player but not what you’d call one of the great entertainers
 

Bolo.

International Vice-Captain
:happy:

You google-fu may be stronger than my 20+ year memories. I think he may have been considered a night watchman in the first game you mentioned. Not the second one tough, regardless of how it was reported on.


This dude cannot be considered a night watchman above bowlers. But I stats it. my point about jonty was wrong. he was good before that. and my point about pollock was also wrong. apparently he was also good before that too. I will take my L and leave.
 

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