Fielding in the sport of cricket is what fielders do to collect the ball when it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries A cricket ball is a hard solid Ball used to play Cricket. Manufacture Cricket balls are made from a core of cork, which is layered Mike Powell cricketerjpg|thumb|200px| Warwickshire batsman Mike Powell]] A batsman in the sport of Cricket is depending on context Any the Sport of Cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a Batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen (plus In the sport of Cricket, a dismissal occurs when the Batsman is out (also known as the fielding side taking a wicket and/or the batting side A fielder or fieldsman may field the ball with any part of his person. However, if while the ball is in play he wilfully fields it otherwise (e. g. by using his hat), the ball becomes dead and 5 penalty runs are awarded to the batting side unless the ball previously struck a batsman not attempting to hit or avoid the ball. In the Sport of Cricket, a dead ball is a particular state of play in which the players may not perform any of the active aspects of the game In the Sport of Cricket, an extra is a run scored by a means other than a Batsman hitting the ball. Andrew-Strauss-Cricketer-detailjpg|thumb|right|250px| Andrew Strauss batting for England during the 2005 NatWest Series]] In the Sport of Cricket, batting Most of the rules covering fielders are in Law 41 of the Laws of cricket. The laws of cricket are a set of rules framed by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC which serve to standardise the format of Cricket matches across the world to ensure
In the early days of Test cricket, fielding was not a priority and many players were sloppy when it came to fielding. Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations With the advent of One Day International matches, fielding became more professional as saving runs became more important. Note Most of the information here pertains to men's cricket ODI matches are also played in Women's cricket. A good fielding side can often save 30+ runs in the course of an ODI innings. Note Most of the information here pertains to men's cricket ODI matches are also played in Women's cricket.
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Fielding position names and locations
Since there are only 11 players on a team, one of whom is the bowler and another the wicket-keeper, at most nine other fielding positions can be used at any given time. Muralijpg|thumb|250px|right|The world's leading off-spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan sends down a delivery]] A bowler in the Sport of Cricket is usually Cricket wicket keeperjpg|thumb|300px|A wicket-keeper in characteristic position ready to face a delivery Which positions are filled by players and which remain vacant is a tactical decision made by the captain of the fielding team. The captain of a Cricket team is a player who during the course of a match has several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player The captain (usually in consultation with the bowler and sometimes other members of the team) may move players between fielding positions at any time except when a bowler is in the act of bowling to a batsman. Darren_Gough_bowlingjpg|thumb|250px|right| Darren Gough bowling]] In the Sport of Cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward
There are a number of named basic fielding positions, some of which are employed very commonly and others that are used less often. However, fielding positions are not fixed, and fielders can be placed in positions that differ from the basic positions. Most of the positions are named roughly according to a system of polar coordinates - one word (leg, cover, mid-wicket) specifies the angle from the batsman, and is optionally preceded by an adjective describing the distance from the batsman (silly, short, deep or long). In Mathematics, the polar coordinate system is a two-dimensional Coordinate system in which each point on a plane is determined by Words such as "backward", "forward", or "square" can further indicate the angle.
The image shows the location of most of the named fielding positions. This image assumes the batsman is right-handed. Someone who is right-handed will prefer to use this hand for everyday activities such as writing, maintaining personal hygiene, Cooking and so forth The area to the left of a right-handed batsman (from the batsman's point of view) is called the leg side or on side, while that to the right is the off side. The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the Sport of Cricket. The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the Sport of Cricket. If the batsman is left-handed, the leg and off sides are reversed and the fielding positions are a mirror image of those shown.
Catching positions
Some fielding positions are used offensively. That is, players are put there with the main aim being to catch out the batsman rather than to stop or slow down the scoring of runs. Caught is a method of dismissing a Batsman in the Sport of Cricket. These positions include: Slip (often there are multiple slips next to each other, designated First slip, Second slip, Third slip, etc, numbered outwards from the wicket-keeper); Fly slip; Gully; Leg slip; Leg gully; the short and silly positions. In the Sport of Cricket, a slip fielder (collectively a slip cordon) is placed behind the Batsman on the Off side of the Bat pad is a position specifically intended to catch balls that unintentionally strike the bat and leg pad, and thus end up only a metre or two to the leg side
Other positions
Other positions worth noting include:
- Wicket-keeper
- Long stop, who stands behind the wicket-keeper towards the boundary (usually when a wicket-keeper is believed to be inept and almost never seen in professional cricket). Cricket wicket keeperjpg|thumb|300px|A wicket-keeper in characteristic position ready to face a delivery
- Sweeper, an alternative name for deep cover, deep extra cover or deep midwicket (that is, near the boundary on the off side or the on side), usually defensive and intended to prevent a four being scored. Boundary has two distinct meanings in the Sport of Cricket; (i the edge or boundary of the playing field and (ii a manner of scoring
- Cow corner, an informal jocular term for the position on the boundary between deep midwicket and long on.
Also the bowler, after delivering the ball, must avoid running on the pitch so usually ends up fielding near mid on or mid off, but somewhat closer to the pitch. Muralijpg|thumb|250px|right|The world's leading off-spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan sends down a delivery]] A bowler in the Sport of Cricket is usually
Modifiers
- Deep, long
- Farther away from the batsman. Alastair Cook should not be confused with Alistair Cooke, journalist and broadcaster
- Short
- Closer to the batsman.
- Silly
- Very close to the batsman.
- Square
- Somewhere along an imaginary extension of the popping crease. For the goalie's crease in hockey see Goal area. In the Sport of Cricket, the crease is the area demarcated by white
- Fine
- Closer to an extension of an imaginary line along the middle of the pitch bisecting the stumps.
- Wide
- Further from an extension of an imaginary line along the middle of the pitch bisecting the stumps.
- Forward
- In front of square; further towards the end occupied by the bowler and further away from the end occupied by the batsman on strike.
- Backward
- Behind square; further towards the end occupied by the batsman on strike and further away from the end occupied by the bowler.
Additionally, commentators or fans discussing the details of field placement will often use descriptive phrases such as "gully is a bit wider than normal" or "mid off is standing too deep, he should come in shorter".
Restrictions on field placement
Fielders may be placed anywhere on the field, subject to the following rules. At the time the ball is bowled:
- No fielder may be standing on or with any part of his body over the pitch (the central strip of the playing area between the wickets). A Cricket pitch is the central strip of the Cricket field between the Wickets The pitch is 1 chain or 22 yards (20 If his body casts a shadow over the pitch the shadow must not move until after the batsman has played (or had the opportunity to play) at the ball.
- There may be no more than two fielders, other than possibly the wicket-keeper, standing in the quadrant of the field behind square leg. See Bodyline for details on one reason this rule exists. For information about the British code name "Bodyline" for the WWII V-2 rocket, see Operation Crossbow.
- In some one-day matches:
- During designated overs of an innings (see Powerplay (cricket)), there may be no more than two fielders standing outside an oval line marked on the field, being semi-circles centred on the middle stump of each wicket of radius 30 yards, joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch. NightMatchOldTraffordjpg|right|thumb|350px|A night match at Old Trafford. In the sport of Cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of Sports &ndash most notably Cricket and Baseball during A Powerplay is a rule introduced in 2005 concerning fielding restrictions in One Day International (ODI cricket This is known as the fielding circle. In addition, during these overs there must be two fielders (other than the wicket-keeper) in designated "close catching" positions.
- For the remainder of the innings there may be no more than five fielders standing outside the fielding circle.
- The restriction for one-day cricket is designed to prevent the fielding team from setting extremely defensive fields and concentrating solely on preventing the batting team from scoring runs, which many consider leads to boring play.
If any of these rules is violated, an umpire will call the delivery a no ball. An umpire in Cricket (from the Old French Nompere meaning not equal i In the Sport of Cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. Additionally a player may not make any significant movement after the ball comes into play and before the ball reaches the striker. If this happens, an umpire will call and signal 'dead ball'. For close fielders anything other than minor adjustments to stance or position in relation to the striker is significant. In the outfield, fielders may move in towards the striker or striker's wicket; indeed, they usually do. However, anything other than slight movement off line or away from the striker is to be considered significant.
Tactics of field placement
With only nine fielders (apart from the bowler and wicket-keeper), the captain of the fielding team must decide which fielding positions to cover, and which to leave vacant. The placement of fielders is one of the major tactical considerations for the fielding captain.
Attacking and defending
The main decision for a fielding captain is to strike a balance between setting an attacking field and a defensive field. Marcus Edward Trescothick MBE (born 25 December 1975 in Keynsham, Somerset) is an English Cricketer He plays first-class Twenty20 is a form of Cricket, originally introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board An attacking field is one in which fielders are positioned in such a way that they are likely to take catches, and thus likely to get the batsman out. Such a field generally involves having many fielders close to the batsman, especially behind the batsman in either slip or short leg positions.
A defensive field is one in which most of the field is covered by a fielder; the batsman will therefore find it hard to score large numbers of runs. This generally involves having many fielders far from the batsman and in front of him, in the positions where he is most likely to hit the ball.
Many factors govern the decisions on field placements, including: the tactical situation in the match; which bowler is bowling; how long the batsman has been in; the wear on the ball; the state of the wicket; the light; or even how close you are to an interval in play. Darren_Gough_bowlingjpg|thumb|250px|right| Darren Gough bowling]] In the Sport of Cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward
Some general principles:
- Attack new batsmen
- A batsman early in his innings is more likely to make a miscalculated or rash shot, so it pays to have catching fielders ready.
- Attack with the new ball
- Fast bowlers get the most swing and bounce with a newer ball, factors that make it harder to play without making an error. Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the Sport of Cricket. Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the Sport of Cricket.
- Attack when returning from a break in play
- Batsmen must settle into a batting rhythm again when resuming play after an overnight break, meal, drinks break, bad weather or a pause for treatment to an injury.
- Attack with quality bowlers
- A team's best bowlers take the most wickets, so get the most benefit from the support of an attacking field.
- Attack when the pitch helps the bowler
- A moist pitch helps fast bowlers get unpredictable seam-movement of the ball, while a dry, crumbling pitch helps spin bowlers get unpredictable spin and damp, overcast conditions help swing bowlers. All three situations can lead to catches flying to close attacking fielders.
- Attack when the batting team is under pressure
- If the batting team is doing poorly or has low morale, increase the pressure by attacking with the field.
- Defend when batsmen are settled in
- It is difficult to get batsmen out when they have been batting for a long time and are comfortable with the bowling. Mark Leif Turner (born October 23 1984 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear) is an English cricketer who plays for Somerset. Taunton is the County town of Somerset, England. The Unparished area (or former Municipal borough) of Taunton has a Population Twenty20 is a form of Cricket, originally introduced in the United Kingdom for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board The best tactic is often to defend and force the run scoring rate to slow down, which can frustrate the batsman into playing a rash shot.
- Defend when the batting team needs to score runs quickly
- In situations where the batting team must score quickly in order to win or press an advantage, slowing down the rate of scoring runs lessens their chance of doing so.
- Defend when the batting team is scoring quickly
- If the batsmen are managing to score runs quickly, it is unlikely they are offering many chances to get them out, so reduce the run scoring rate.
- Defend when the ball and pitch offer no help to the bowlers
- If there is no movement of the ball and the batsmen can hit it comfortably every time, there is little point in having lots of close catching fielders.
- Defend when using weak bowlers
- If a relatively poor bowler must bowl for any reason, the best tactic is often to limit the potential damage by containing the free scoring of runs.
Off and leg side fields
Another consideration when setting a field is how many fielders to have on each side of the pitch. With nine fielders to place, the division must necessarily be unequal, but the degree of inequality varies.
When describing a field setting, the numbers of fielders on the off side and leg side are often abbreviated into a shortened form, with the off side number quoted first. For example, a 5-4 field means 5 fielders on the off side and 4 on the leg side.
Usually, most fielders are placed on the off side. This is because most bowlers tend to concentrate the line of their deliveries on or outside the off stump, so most shots are hit into the off side. For other uses see Stump (disambiguation Stump is a term used in the Sport of Cricket where has three different meanings
When attacking, there may be 3 or 4 slips and 1 or 2 gullies, potentially using up to six fielders in that region alone. This would typically be accompanied by a mid off, mid on, and fine leg, making it a 7-2 field. Although there are only two fielders on the leg side, they should get relatively little work as long as the bowlers maintain a line outside off stump.
As fields get progressively more defensive, fielders will move out of the slip and gully area to cover more of the field, leading to 6-3 and 5-4 fields.
If a bowler, usually a leg spin bowler, decides to attack the batsman's legs in an attempt to force a stumping, bowl him behind his legs, or induce a catch on the leg side, the field may stack 4-5 towards the leg side. Leg spin is a style of Spin bowling in Cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a Wrist spin action causing the ball to spin anti-clockwise at the point For other uses see Stump (disambiguation Stump is a term used in the Sport of Cricket where has three different meanings It is unusual to see more than 5 fielders on the leg side, because of the restriction that there must be no more than two fielders placed behind square leg.
Another attacking placement on the leg side is the leg side trap, which involves placing fielders near the boundary at deep square and backward square leg and bowling bouncers to try to induce the batsman to hook the ball into the air. In the Sport of Cricket, a bouncer (or bumper) is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler.
Protective equipment
No member of the fielding side other than the wicket-keeper may wear gloves or external leg guards, though fielders (in particular players fielding near to the bat) may also wear shin protectors, groin protectors ('boxes') and chest protectors beneath their clothing. Cricket wicket keeperjpg|thumb|300px|A wicket-keeper in characteristic position ready to face a delivery Apart from the wicket-keeper, protection for the hand or fingers may be worn only with the consent of the umpires.
Fielders are permitted to wear a helmet and face guard. This is usually employed in a position such as silly point or silly mid-wicket, where proximity to the batsman gives little time to avoid a shot directly at their head. Due to the discomfort, the duty of fielding "under the helmet" or "under the lid" is often delegated to the most junior member of the team. If the helmet is only being used for overs from one end, it will be placed behind the wicketkeeper when not in use. Some grounds have purpose-built temporary storage in the form of a cavity beneath the pitch, approximately 1m x 1m x 1m in size, accessed through a hatch flush with the grass, which can be used for storing a helmet, shin pads or drinks for the fielding side. 5 penalty runs are awarded to the batting side should the ball touch a fielder's headgear whilst it is not being worn unless the ball previously struck a batsman not attempting to hit or avoid the ball. This rule was introduced in the 19th century to prevent the unfair practice of a fielder using a hat (often a top hat) to take a catch. For the item of clothing see Top hat. For the fictional TUGS character see Top Hat (TUGS.
As cricket balls are hard and can travel at high speeds off the bat, protective equipment is recommended to prevent injury. There have been some recorded deaths in cricket,[1] but they are rare.
Fielding specialities
Many cricketers are particularly adept in one fielding position and will usually be found there:
- Slips require fast reactions and intense concentration. Most top slip fielders tend to be top-order batsmen (although Shane Warne and Andrew Flintoff are two recent notable exceptions to this rule), as these are both skills that require excellent hand-eye coordination. Shane Keith Warne (born 13 September 1969 is a former Australian international Cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the Andrew Flintoff, MBE, (born 6 December 1977 in Preston, Lancashire) is a Cricketer who plays for Lancashire and England.
- Pace bowlers will often be found fielding in the third man, fine leg and deep backward square positions during the overs between those they are bowling. These positions mean that they are at the correct end for their bowling over. They should see relatively little fielding action with plenty of time to react, allowing them to rest between overs. They also usually have an ability to throw the ball long distances accurately.
- Players noted for their agility, acceleration and throwing accuracy will often field in the infield positions such as point, cover and mid-wicket.
However, players are rarely selected purely because of their fielding skills, and all players are expected to win their place in the team as either a specialist batsman or bowler (or both). This even applies to wicket keepers, who are generally expected to be competent middle-order batsmen.
Throwing the cricket ball
There were many competitions for throwing a cricket ball the furthest distance, particularly in the earlier years of the game. Wisden describes how the record was set around 1882, by one Robert Percival at Durham Sands Racecourse, at 140 yards and two feet. The Wisden Group was a group of companies formed by John Wisden & Co Ltd publishers of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Former Essex allrounder Ian Pont threw a ball 138 yards in Cape Town in 1981. Ian Leslie Pont (born 28 August 1961 in Brentwood, Essex, England) is an English former Cricketer. There are unconfirmed reports that Jānis Lūsis, the Soviet javelin thrower who won the Olympic gold medal in 1968, once threw a ball 150 yards. Jānis Lūsis (born May 19, 1939 in Jelgava, Latvia) is a Latvian (and Soviet) athlete who competed in Javelin
Notes
- ^ Raman Lamba died due to a hit on the temple while fielding at short leg. Raman Lamba (born January 2, 1960 in Uttar Pradesh; died February 23 1998 in Dhaka) was an Indian
See also
External links
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