Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer went to extreme measures to try and deal with the dangerous evening session in the Boxing Day Test in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
With the floodlights on at St Georges Park and South Africa having declared at 309/9 in their first innings, Proteas stand-in captain AB de Villiers sent Zimbabwe in for 16 overs at the end of the first day.
It didn't go well for the visitors.
A relentless spell of opening bowling saw Zimbabwe fall to 11/3 and then 14/4.
When Cremer sent in Kyle Jarvis as a nightwatchman with 30 minutes still to play, it was a decision that raised eyebrows. It worked, though, and Zimbabwe managed to get to the end of the day on 30/4.
As it turns out, Cremer had told all of his tail-enders and lower-order batsmen to put their pads on as the day was winding down.
Cremer confirmed that he was ready to sacrifice his bowlers rather than send in his batsmen in what were extremely tough batting conditions.
"All four of my seam bowlers had their pads on in the changeroom and they were ready to come in and bat," Cremer was quoted as saying on Netwerk24.
"Hopefully that would have allowed the batsman to survive and play in better conditions tomorrow (Wednesday)."
Aiden Markram, who made a century for the Proteas, acknowledged after the day's play that facing the pink ball was significantly more difficult under the lights and as the sun was going down.
