Cricket is a favorite sports people love to watch all across the world, but it can be a little complex to understand if you are new to cricket. The fielding positions and the number of players standing at those positions are sometimes baffling. It is not surprising that people find it challenging to understand the cricket fielding positions of the players. Multiple cricketers are on the field, including; the wicketkeeper, bowler, fielder, and cricket captain. Every other player has a specific position on the field with a specific role to play.
Fielding positions are crucial in the cricket match and are responsible for the match outcome in a certain way. If the captain makes the player stand in the right place, there is a great chance that the match with go on their side. This article contains all the necessary positions on the cricket field, and after reading this article, you will have complete information about all your queries about cricket fielding positions.
Basics of The Best Cricket Fielding Positions 11 Players
The fielding positions are of three categories, and you can better understand them by dividing the cricket field into three parts including slow and fast bowler cricket fielding positions 11 players;
Cricket Fielding Positions in The Close-Catching Field
Players in the close-catching field are those who stand closest to the batsman. They stand 15 yards from the cricket ring. Caption places them in the closest catching positions, and they are there to save some runs for the team.
Inner Ring Fielding Positions
The players standing in the inner ring of the cricket field are there to grab the closest catches if the ball is tossed a little. These players stand 30 yards from the batter. The inner ring fielder passes through a tough training of catching the ball from the closest distance, and they must be ready whenever a ball is delivered.
They need to stand on their toes or jump as high as they can in the ball’s direction to catch or at least stop it from hitting the boundary. The inner field players have a tough job, but the chances of winning and taking the match increase significantly if these fielders are alert and in a well-balanced position.
Outfield Fielding Positions
All the other zone players except the inner zone stand are standing in the outfield. All the balls not held by the inner-ring fielders are supposed to be stopped by the outfield players. This zone extends to the wicket boundary on all sides; they can prevent the balls from hitting the boundary.
The biggest circle fielding takes place with the outfield players. Captain places these players with a strategy all across the field after observing the direction of balls of the current batter, and these positions keep changing with every changing player or whenever the caption thinks the need is.
Components of the Close-Catching Cricket Infield
There are 9 components of the close-catching cricket field, which means there are 9 people present in the 15-yard cricket ring;
Wicketkeeper
The wicketkeeper stands at the field’s batting end and behind the stumps. For 11 players match, only one wicketkeeper has a significant role to play. The wicketkeeper’s responsibility is to catch the ball whenever it comes from the other end. If the ball first touches the batter or the bat, and then the wicketkeeper catches, he gets the wicket.
One of the other roles of the wicketkeeper is to prevent the ball from hitting the boundary because if he drops the ball and it goes back, the boundary is quite near that side. The position of the wicketkeeper also changes depending on the bowler. If a fast bowler is standing opposite the batter, the wicketkeeper will stand a few steps back; if there is a spinner bowling, he will stand closer to the stump to get the wicket.
The Slips
The cricket pitch also involves another crucial location of the slips; there are 4 significant positions, including the 1st slip, 2nd slip, 3rd slip, and 4th slip. You are not required to make people stand at these positions immediately; you can add 1 or 2 slips at a time.
The wicketkeeper’s standing decides the positions of the slip fielders. The wicketkeeper usually stands near the batter, and the 1st slip is far away from the field.
Slip fielders arrange themselves diagonally; there is a significant gap between all 4 slips. The slips maintain this distance to avoid hitting each other and missing the catch when the ball is delivered. The caption has to decide on the slips to help prevent the colliding.
Gully
When the slip fielder line finishes, gully stands after them. The gully will also stand diagonally with the other slips and maintain a distance from them to prevent colliding.
Leg Slip
Leg slip positions, as the name suggests, are at the leg side of the batsman, behind the wicket. A leg slip fielder stands utterly opposite to the slip position. Leg slip is not there usually, and there is a chance that the captain decides to miss out on a leg slip. It is not common in cricket to place more than one fielder in one place at a time.
Silly Point
A silly point position stands at the 45 degrees angle from the batsman. When the bowler is going for a delivery, a silly point stands one meter away from the cricket pitch and makes sure he does not stand on the cricket pitch to let the bowler deliver in the whole space.
Silly Mid-off
A silly mid-off position is near the hitter; the fielder will stand straight to the batter this time.
Short Leg
The short leg position is on the batter’s leg side, the same as the silly point.
Silly Mid-on
Their fielding position near the batter is straight compared to the short leg. The fielder on the silly mid-on stands on the leg side of the batters.
Components of Inner Fielding Positions
The inner fielding positions contain the following fielding positions;
Point
The point fielding positions stand on the batsman’s offside and square to the wicket. The bowling pace decides the distance between the point and the bat. There is usually a lot of distance on his sides to run to catch or stop the ball from hitting the boundary.
Backward Point
The backward point is similar to the point position, but it is pretty behind the point position; that is why you call it a backward point, which has the same function as the point.
Mid-Off
Mid-off fielder stands at the offside of the field to prevent the ball from being in a broader position other than straight.
Cover
The cover is a central ball-hitting region, and this location’s fielder has a significant role. This position is at the front of the square, and the fielder is at the circle’s edge.
Mid-On
Mid-off and mid-on are pretty similar, with a little difference in that it is on the leg side of the field.
Square Leg
This position is also on the leg side of the field and is square to the wicket. A square leg positions himself with the umpire and stands near the umpire.
Backward Square Leg
The backward square leg is behind the square leg and does the same job as the square leg.
Mid-Wicket
Mid-wicket is an important location, and it is located on the batter’s leg side and in front of the square. The fielder has the role of stopping the single by standing at the circle’s edge.
Fine Leg
Fine leg fielding is on the back of the square and the leg side of the field. The fielder stands on the edge, less than 45 degrees from the hitter.
Component of Outfield Fielding Positions
Third Man
The third man is in another crucial position on the field. He stands at the square on the side of the field. He stands at 45 degrees to the batter, and the slip fielders determine his exact position.
Deep Point
A profound point is at a perfect square to the wicket.
Deep Backward Point
A deep backward point is on the boundary and opposite the field.
Deep Extra Cover
This position is ahead of the square than the deep cover position to provide extra cover.
Long Off
The long-off position is wide and straight on the edge of the field.
Deep Fine Leg
This position is on the boundary from the leg side and is at 45 degrees to the batter.
Long Leg
It is behind the square on the leg side other than the deep fine leg. The long-leg fielders stand between the deep fine leg and deep square leg.
Long On
There is a final boundary position on the leg side of the batter; this position is 5 to 10 meters from the leg side of the line.
Deep Cover
It is another boundary position on the offside of the wicket. It is right in front of the square.
Final Thoughts
There is complete information on all the fielding positions in this article. You can understand each position with the given detail about each topic. Almost all the fielding positions’ name indicates their meaning, and you don’t need to find the purpose and role of the position. You can guess it from the name.
