FIELDING : How to Be a Slip Fielder

Get Rid of Fear. As we all know, the season ball is probably one of the hardest balls in sports. In slip fielding, the ball comes very fast to you, it may even reach speeds of over 100 m.p.h. It's quite easy to eliminate your fear of the season ball. As you gradually continue to play cricket, your fear of the ball will go down less and less. This really is not a big issue to worry about.

Strengthen Legs. Slip fielders will always be crouching down and they have very strong knees. Slip fielders need to spring whenever the ball is up in the air. They rely on their knees a lot.

Focus on Reflexes and Hand-Eye Coordination. Improving hand-eye coordination and reflexes is the most important of aspect of being a slip fielder. With the ball coming at you at great speeds, you literally have a split second before the ball comes to you. Training for this can be done with much practice

Keep Practicing. Even when you do reach the goal of becoming of a skilled slip fielder, you must continue practicing to make sure your skills are always sharp.

When practicing have someone throw the ball at you hard to allow you to get used to the speed .

Practice diving catches.

Give with the ball. This means when you catch the ball, bring your hands into your waist or next to your hips, this cushions the ball which helps especially when the ball is coming fast and could bounce out.

FIELDING : How to Use a Tennis Ball to Improve Your Catching in 5 Minutes

Tennis balls: bright, light and fluffy; obvious descriptions.

But what is not discussed is how much harder they are to catch than cricket balls when at speed.

Try it.

Cricketers won’t admit this because everyone knows a cricket ball is one of the most dangerous things in the universe, but it’s true!

Because they are so light and have high rebound properties, they take more skill to catch than a heavy and hard cricket ball.

To catch a tennis ball at speed you need to exaggerate all the technical elements used when catching a cricket ball correctly.

I first thought of this drill after seeing Gary Kirsten firing tennis balls at a batsman in the nets using a racket, simply to replicate the speed generated by a fast bowler when the delivery is full.

It got me thinking how using the same method could test and develop your reactions to close and infield catches.

By simply allowing the ball to drop and hitting it on the half volley towards the fielder using a forehand shot, it allows the coach or team mate to quickly develop your ability to react at intercepting the ball.

This is an easy and fun drill to practise; all you need is a tennis ball, a racket and a willing partner.

Dropped catches

What also became clear was that the success in holding the catch was lower than normal.

We dropped more catches with a tennis ball.

This was because the ball rebounds quicker out the hand than a cricket ball.

That’s great because you need to improve their co-ordination in holding the ball as well as your reactions.

For me this drill is a great way to warm up the reactions and eyes on a  cold day, when nobody wants a hard ball flying at their cold hands. 

FIELDING : 5 Mistakes You Never Knew You Were Making In the Field

1.  The reverse long-barrier

Some people do it from bad habit others do it from bad body positioning.

The premise of the long barrier is to build the biggest wall you can to prevent the ball from passing you; so in theory any big shape you can create works.

But the ultimate long-barrier is one that allows the fielder to return the ball as quickly as possible; as most long barriers are performed in the deep where an extra run from a poor return is possible.

It’s level one coaching, but a trick that so many people miss.

Right handers need to have their left knee on the ground in the long-barrier (and vice versa for left handers).

Doing the long-barrier the wrong way around puts the fielder in an unnatural position to throw, giving away another run to a sharp batting pair.

2. Looking in the wrong place

Do you look at the bowler or batsman on delivery of the ball?

Fielders behind square; watch the bowler.

When fielding behind square, the ball comes from the edge for the bat.  So by watching the ball your brain and eyes are able to keep up with the pace of the ball as well as anticipate any edge.

Fielders in front of the square; watch the batsman.

Because the ball is hit in the opposite direction the ball after it’s bowled, the brain and eyes will have to react to a complete change in direction and more difficultly, judge the pace at which the ball is travelling in this opposite direction.

3. Standing in the wrong place

I’ve seen this cardinal sin at first-class level; allowing the batsman to take a quick single to you in the infield, especially if you were told to prevent it.

Don’t assume that every position has a set distance from the bat, this changes with every batsman.

But the distance will also vary with the situation.

In game situations where singles are just as valuable as boundaries the need for preventing these singles are greater.

If boundaries are required, the fielder can afford to press back slightly. The batsman will always be looking to hit the ball hard and the odd stolen single is less important.

4. Holding back an appeal

Always appeal on reaction. Train yourself to appeal on your instant gut reaction.

So many players simply never appeal regardless of their fielding position; it is just their personality not to be loud.

This is especially true of younger players unsure of themselves.

But go for it; if you think it’s out appeal.  Chances are that if you think it is close, the bowler probably thinks it’s closer!

5. Ignoring the non-striker

Just because the batsman has hit the ball and it’s been fielded, doesn’t mean it’s a dot ball.

Most batsman will back up, some more than others.

So why not run him out?

It is not unsportsmanlike to run the non-striker out.  If it was unsportsmanlike, then backing-up would be deemed unsportsmanlike.

Always communicate to your team mate who is covering your potential throw first.

 Do it quietly between overs; or if it is you backing up, use discreet hand signal to the fielders on the other side of the wicket that you are available to back-up the throw.

It’s one of those chances you will only get once.  The batsman will be aware of his overzealous backing-up now and the second chance of a run out will be rare. 

FIELDING : 2 Simple Ways to Improve your Slip Catching

There are two types of fielders; people who are allowed to field in the slips and those who aren’t.

This is more down to the fielder’s reactions that their ability to catch.

The edge that flies straight into the body is regulation for the slip fielder, but many club and Academy cricketers struggle to react to catches either side of their body simply because of the variation in the pitch.

The more variation in the pitch the greater variation in the carrying edge.

But there are a couple of things you can do to improve your chances of reaching and holding these difficult chances.

Your base position will have a great say in how well you move yourself to take the chance.

Footwork is key, not only with moving yourself to cover ground but simply taking a catch either side of you whilst stationary.

Position your feet to angle inwards slightly, with your weight not only on the balls of your feet but also on the inside.  The angle of your feet will naturally do this for you, but it is important to check.

By doing this you will find it is easier to push off to either side.  Because your feet are pointing inwards, it basically means your legs are pointing the right way to push off with most efficiency.  

Your thigh muscles are some of the strongest in your body, so it is crucial to engage these in order to get your body to move.

Secondly, it is a time old suggestion, but staying low does help improve holding on to the tricky low catches.  After all it is quicker to use your muscles to lift yourself than it is to fall.  But more importantly it is easier to keep sight of a ball that is above your eye-line than it is to follow a ball dipping below.

Try to remember these techniques if you get chance to impress; although I can’t guarantee it will be an instant ticket to be recalled to the slips after you’ve spent all last season at square leg.