Night watchman

**Mahmood** · #1 October 21, 2003, 09:36 PM

How come the BD think tank don't use the concept of night watchman??

After Golla was out, would it not be wiser to send Rofiq or Pilot? This costed us the valuable wicket of Sumon.

[Edited on 22-10-2003 by Rajputro]

BangladeshCricket · #2 October 21, 2003, 09:42 PM

even if you look at other teams...night watchman comes when its really necessary otherwise a collapse is handle by specialist batsman with patience and their knowledge...i don't know why Sumon did that....it's just couple of overs and he could not stay..l..instead he flicked the ball without any effective footwork...if number one batsman does it how we can expect more from others...i guess we have to learn how other batsman in other coountries play in this situation...i wonder if they will ever learn....

chinaman · #3 October 21, 2003, 09:45 PM

While this is an excellent idea for many, it's rather futile for us. From Mahmud to Masri, none can gurantee to stay on the crease for few overs (Hope I'm wrong, dead wrong). If we loose a few wkts, even as night watchman, it automatically creates even more pressure for the rest. Furthermore, our tailenders are not bad with the old ball.

Arnab · #4 October 21, 2003, 09:46 PM

Sumon isn't the best technical batsman. Sure he had a good series in Pakistan but do you remember how many times he was dropped?

**Mahmood** · #5 October 21, 2003, 09:48 PM

It happens a lot. A good batsman will throw wicket if he comes in at the end of the day. It is harder to set mind at that time, also light becomes an issue. So it is better to risk a bowler than a good batsman.That is why night watchman was created.

yesterday was a prime example of the necessity of night watchman.

Sham · #6 October 21, 2003, 09:54 PM

If there were 3 or 4 overs left in the day, nightwatchman probably would have been used. But with 14-15 overs, a nightwatchman isn't usually used. I mean that is a lot of overs to expect a poor batsman to last out. What would happen is, the nightwatchman would last half those overs, and then a frontline batsman would have to come and last out the end overs anyway. They couldn't have known that the light would be offered.

pagol-chagol · #7 October 21, 2003, 09:56 PM

Anybody but Shumon at this situation. A batsman who can dig it in or a bowler who can be sacrificed. Whoever. Shumon was wasted.

Good point Rajputro.

**Mahmood** · #8 October 21, 2003, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chinaman
While this is an excellent idea for many, it's rather futile for us. From Mahmud to Masri, none can gurantee to stay on the crease for few overs (Hope I'm wrong, dead wrong). If we loose a few wkts, even as night watchman, it automatically creates even more pressure for the rest. Furthermore, our tailenders are not bad with the old ball.

I would rather lose Masri and Rafiq and have Sumon for tomorrow.

Sham · #9 October 21, 2003, 10:21 PM

I think the point Chinaman was making is, we would lose Masri or Rafiq and then Sumon would have to come out anyway. Or we could keep sending out our bowlers and be 5 down by the end of the day. The point is, who is the best equipped to be able to last out the day? Its the batsman. With about five overs to go, its a good idea to send out a nightwatchman. He can try to hog the strike and protect the batsman at the other end, and if he gets out after 3 overs or so, play will most likely be called off anyway. But 15 overs is a lot for a nightwatchman, especially ours. They could have pushed Rajin up the order and kept Sujon for today, that would have made sense actually.

Upal · #10 October 22, 2003, 09:32 AM

I think from now on Pilot should be our designated night watchman. He always seems to last at least 50 balls no matter how much he ends up scoring. Pilot has solid defensive technique and would be the ideal man on this team to see out the last 10-15 overs of the day.

chinaman · #11 October 22, 2003, 11:06 AM

Now, we need to protect him too. Who's gonna be his nightwatchman?

Sham · #12 October 22, 2003, 01:02 PM

A nightwatchman is someone you are willing to sacrifice. Is Mashud someone you are willing to sacrifice?

Arnab · #13 October 22, 2003, 01:07 PM

A nightwatchman should be decided via random lottery, rock-paper-scissors or "the player who last went to the bathroom" rule.

billah · #14 October 22, 2003, 01:11 PM

The idea of bringing the teams back from the hotel, gear them up, then warm them up, just to play 11 more lousy overs is a radical move by the umps.
Ashoka halai akta pagol, mathai golmal.

Upal · #15 October 22, 2003, 02:51 PM

Quote:

A nightwatchman is someone you are willing to sacrifice. Is Mashud someone you are willing to sacrifice?

I don't quite agree with your definition of nightwatchman. I don't think we are sacrifising Pilot by making him go in and see out the last 10 overs or so in a day. Pilot's defense is his strength, so basically we are using the strengths of our players to the most optimal effect.

However, if you do believe that a nightwatchmen is someone you sacrifise, then I'm willing to sacrifise Pilot if it saves Bashar, Hanan, Javed, and Rajin from making binary scores.