Defensive Fielding

The mental attitude of all fielders must be aggressive but as in batting, their attack must be based on a sound technique of defence. Their first job is to stop the ball.

Quick starting

To stop a ball a  fielder must first get to it, and  this means  he  must  be able to start at  the earliest possible moment: we will say, directly he has  sighted the  line of  the  stroke, for  only  experience  will  enable him  to  anticipate it  and even  then  he may  sometimes be  wrong.

 For quick starting he must:

       (1)    Watch the batsman (unless he is first slip or leg slip when he will watch the ball from the bowler’s hand).

       (2)    Be balanced  on  on the balls of both  feet  with  body  slightly stooped at the waist  and  knees and with hands hanging loosely  at  the  ready in  front of him.

       (3)    Be concentrated in mind, expecting each ball to be played to him.

Stopping the ball
 He must:

       (1)    Get on to the line of the ball as quickly as possible.

       (2)    Get down early and stay down.

       (3)    Watch the ball with complete concentration until it is safely in his hands.

There are two accepted positions for receiving the ball in defensive fielding.

     (a)    Orthodox  position: The fielder  is facing full down the  line of the ball with  knees well bent, seat  well down and the fingers of  both  hands touching the  ground to  from  the  base  of a  triangle in  which  his closed heels  are  the  apex; his  head should not  be  much  more  than  a foot  above his  hands and  his  eyes glued to the  ball as it  comes towards him.

         (b)   The Long Barrier position: The fielder turns sideways to the line of the ball, dropping on his left knee so that his left leg and his body present a maximum barrier to the ball. His  hands will   be  down to  receive the ball in front of his left  thigh, and his head  directly over them and  fully  turned so that  he  watches  the  ball  into them with  both  eyes level (fig. lb).