Art of Fielding

'Catches win Matches' a very famous quote in cricket.

Fielding is one of the three important aspects of cricket. One peculiar thing about fielding is that a player can master fielding through sheer practice while batting and bowling require some inborn talent. A player will never become a decent fielder without practice and hard work. While batting and bowling require continuous concentration, fielding requires a different type of concentration. Aussie legend Ian Healy has explained this one convincingly. He, in his book, has stated that a player can concentrate only for 2 hrs/day. After that concentration level will start to diminish. So the player should have the capacity to spread this 2 hrs over 7 hrs - a day's playing duration in a test match. For that he should know to take respite between balls, overs and sessions. He should know to relax himself. He says that he came to this conclusion after doing some study for a period of time.

Problem with fielding is that most of the times it doesn't cost (may the player's place in the team) the fielder himself rather costs the bowler and in turn costs the team. Who can forget the 'contribution' of our Parthiv 'Butter Hands' Patel in Steve Waugh's farewell test and in the one dayers that were held in India. All the time the casualty was Murali Karthik. Parthiv missed the crucial stumping of 'Tugga' of Murali Karthik ,who went on to save the test match with a brisk 80 odd. On the whole he missed 3 stumping and 2 catches of Murali Karthik (alone). If he had not muffed up those chances, Murali Karthik would have become a match winner at least for a short period of time and it would have improved his confidence. But now both Murali Karthik and 'Butter' Patel has lost their place in the team.

Now let us see some of the famous fielders in the history of cricket.

Slip Catching: To win a test match, a team has to get 20 wickets. Almost 40%-60% of the chances will occur behind the wicket and to convert those chances one should have a strong slip cordon. Most famous slip fielders are from the 'Down Under'. It is also one of the reason why they dominate the international scene consistently. To be a good slip fielder, one should have a soft hands and should allow the ball to come rather than dashing toward the ball. Sir Walter Hammond, from England, was considered to be the first best slipper. Aussie had Bobby Simpson, Greg Chappell, Mark Taylor, Mark Waugh, Martin Love (Played only one test but has more than 100 caches in the domestic circuit. A clone of Mark Waugh). Big Mac from South Africa was a safe bet. 'Beefy' Botham was an aggressive slip fielder who stood very close to the batsmen even to the fast bowlers.

Fielding inside circle: This is the area where one can save runs and create confusion between the batsmen. To do this, one has to be very agile and nimble on their feet and should possesses a good throw. Reflex is an important criteria here.

Joel Garner (Gully), Viv Richards (Mid wicket), Roger Harper (on his own bowling) - known for their reflexes.
Herschelle Gibbs (Covers), Clive Lloyd (Covers), Derek Randall (Point), Chapman (Gully), Chris Harris (Backward Point), Roger Harper (on his own bowling) - has the ability to stop runs and take some great catches.
Allan Border (Mid wicket), Ponting (Point), Viv Richards (Mid wicket), Roger Harper (on his own bowling) -has the knack of hitting the stumps.

One ironical thing in the above list is Joel Garner. He is 6'11" tall and he would make some diving stops and had taken some fantastic catches in the Gully area.

Close Catching: This is India's zone. We can proudly say that most of our close catching fielders are very good in all the four areas - Slips, Forward Short Leg, Silly Point and in Backward Short Leg - but none better than Eknath Solker. He, without any fear or protection, stood for the famous spin quartet and had taken 14 great catches for Bishen Bedi alone. When I mean 14 great catches I means 14 life threating catches. Infact Bishen once said the those 14 wickets should be added to Solkar's tally and not to his. He was well supported by Wadekar, Venkat, Gavaskar. Four 'quality-variety' spinners along with these magnificent fielders around the bat posted a great threat to the opponent batsmen and was a treat for the spectators. Aussie opener David Boon tried his luck in the slip cordon without any success and was on the verge of losing his place just because of his inability to field.Then he took short leg position and performed extremely well in that area till his retirement.

Wicket Keepers: Wicket Keepers are like the third captain of the side and can be referred as Fielding captain. They, with their skill and confidence, can act as an energy tonic to all the drooping shoulders and at the same time can become a real villain. Most of the time, they have to perform a thankless job. Some of the renowned wicket keepers are Rodney Marsh, Ian Healy, Allan Knott, Farook Engineer, Syed Kirmani and currently Adam Gilchrist.

Deep Fielding: Fielding in deep requires a fast moving legs and a strong arms. Having good fielders in deep can curtail the run flow and, in some situation, can affect a runout or two. Dean Jones, Brett Lee, Kapil Dev, Patrick Patterson, Criag McDermott are some of the finest fielders in the deep.

All round Fielding: These fielders are just a treat for any captain. They are just captain's dream. You can put them in any position, they will perform. For these player, it doesn't matter whether they are in the deep or in the close catching or within the circle. They adapt marvelously and do their duty without any blemish. To my knowledge, best all round fielders are Mark Waugh, Sir Garfield Sobers, Azhar, Kapil Dev and Andrew Symonds.

Greatest of them all: Two players who can enter a team just for their fielding abilities are Jonty Rhodes and Colin Bland from South Africa. Why these two are so special? What make them superior over other great fielders? Just with their presence, they command respect from the batsman and has won many matches with their fielding ability alone.

First to Jonty Rhodes. Fittest cricketer till date. Excellent anticipation, great stop, good recovery and shy at the stumps. All in one motion. This is his mantra. Can maintain the same energy and intensity for the whole match and never commit any blunder as Gibbs did in the world cup semi finals. Who can forget the famous runout he did against Pakistan in Sydney to get Inzamam. He would easily save atleast 25 runs and has taken around 170 catches in both forms of cricket.

Next to Colin Bland. He was very tall when compared to Jonty Rhodes. Infact he was around 6'4". He was a better batsman than Jonty averaging around 50 in Test cricket. His specialty was to hit the stumps from point and even from the deep. Jonty is better than Bland when it comes to stopping and diving but Bland was way ahead of Jonty and others in hitting the stumps. He was referred as Fielding Bradman and 'The Great Eagle'. He was a great athlete and a superb fielder in the deep. He combined speed, perfect balance and a quite exceptional throwing arm, and thrilled spectators and intimidated opposing batsmen in equal measure. He performed a throwing exhibition at the request of Ted Dexter of England. He was asked to hit the stumps 10 out of 10 times and completed that exhibition successfully. Also he repeated the same effort in South Africa. His famous moment came when ran Ken Barrington and Jim Parks out in a test match at Lord's and South Africa won that match just because of his fielding. However his career terminated abruptly at Jo'burg against Australia when he crashed into the concrete boundary fence which resulted in a severe knee injury and he never returned to international scene after that.

Bottom line: 'Glue hand' cricketers always contribute to the team on crunch situation and will lift the moral of the team.