Warwickshire captain Jim Troughton passes on some sage advice designed to help turn you into that gun fielder you’ve always dreamed of being.
NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WORK
“Everyone drops catches. No one means to, but everyone drops them. If it happens, all you can do is reflect upon whether you’ve done enough in training to know that you are as well prepared as you could possibly be. If that’s the case, it’s a lot easier to move on.”
FOR THE TEAM
“Fielding well gives you the chance to help a mate out. It’s the only facet of the game where you can do this. If a bowler bowls an off-target ball and you pull off a great stop from a stroke heading to the boundary, that is something you are doing for your friend. It’s a great feeling.”
TRIGGER MOVEMENTS
“The same applies with fielding as it does for batting, you should have a series of trigger movements that get you in the ‘ready’ position when the ball is released by the bowler. With me, I walk in, then it’s a conscious, quick, right-foot-left-foot movement to get me balanced and square to the striking batsman and then I’m right up on my toes in order to make sure that my body weight is forward and not back on my heels.”
SHOT STOPPING
“Fielding in a position where you are looking to stop hard-hit balls, the same principles apply as with goalkeepers saving penalties in football. They always want to advance from their line, keeping their momentum coming forward, in order to keep the shots out of the net. It’s the same in the field.”
STAY LOW
“When the bowler lets go of the ball you should be down low. A low centre of gravity helps with balance and changing direction quickly. It also helps you to more accurately judge the bounce of the ball. From this low starting position it is also much easier to get down for balls. A common error in missing balls is not getting low enough, early enough, to field them.”
ALL THE WAY FROM AMERICA
“There is a fair amount of debate at the moment about whether fielders need to walk in at all, as the bowler runs up. It has come in via what is coached in baseball. In the States, fieldsmen only do a two-step set-up routine, as I do, but only after I’ve walked in. They really don’t think you should walk in at all. They think it’s unnecessary. But I can’t field from a standing start. I think you get so used to walking in all your cricketing life. It just doesn’t have the same rhythm if you don’t do it.”
THROWING – SAFETY FIRST
“When making a throw, always look to throw from a side-on position and ensure that your throwing arm’s elbow is above the height of your shoulder when you set yourself for releasing the ball. This takes a lot of the wear-and-tear away from the shoulder and elbow joints.”
FRONT ARM
“Another thing that helps with alignment is reversing the palm of your non-throwing hand. This has the effect of turning your front shoulder into a better and more consistent side-on position which helps with the accuracy of your throw. Try it, you’ll see how it works.”
SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE
“In a tight run-out situation, sometimes you haven’t the time to get into the default throwing position. On these occasions a flicked throw from the side – if you’re close enough to your target that you feel you can make the distance – with a lower elbow can be the perfect throw.”
KNEELING
“The same can be the case for a run-out opportunity after a dive. From that prone position, you should then pop into a throwing position in a single movement for a throw off either one or both knees. This is a great skill to learn. Catching the batsman off guard after a brilliant diving stop can always create a run-out opportunity.”
BEST IN THE BUSINESS
“Trevor Penney never missed. He put that down to not having a PlayStation out on the family farm in Zimbabwe! For hours on end he would throw stones at trees. And again, I’ve witnessed on many an occasion, that he never missed at this either. He was so good at it that he could throw a rock – any size – and with a curving arc, still hit a tree 30 metres away. Unbelievable.”
THE SEAM ISN’T JUST FOR BOWLERS
“Throw the ball with your fingers across the seam. It helps maintain accuracy and distance.”
ROUND THE CLOCK
“Practise in as realistic a way as you can. If you are a backward point fielder, or midwicket for your club’s off spinner, get a couple of mates to work with you and improve each other’s fielding. Get a thrower to throw balls to replicate the short of shots you are most likely to be faced with in the given position. Be ready to stop the hard-hit balls or throw the ball at either set of stumps. The same if you are a mid-on/mid-off fielder. Practise fielding straight drives.
“It’s a great drill to field around the clock – in every single run-saving position – and replicate the types of strokes and angles you may be faced with in a game. In my opinion there is no substitute for good, hard graft and repetition.”
ADJUSTING TO A SKIED CATCH
“If I’m circling under a high catch I make sure I position myself under it by taking small staccato-style steps. This helps me keep my head still and the smaller movements, rather than long strides, helps me position myself under it more precisely.”
RUNNING FOR A CATCH
“When you are running full pelt for a catch, this is where experience really comes into its own. By practising taking hard, low, flat-hit catches, running off the boundary, you get to know and understand the angles better, which gives you a better chance of making the catch. If you don’t practise taking this type of flat catch over a longish distance, they are particularly difficult to hang onto. To practise these, position yourself out on the boundary at your club ground and get someone to stand on the edge of the square and hit the ball out for you to judge and react to the flight of the ball. You will soon improve. And start to understand when you need to run hard for a ball, and when less so.”
MODERN CATCHING BATS
“If you have someone at the club with one of the new fielding bats, they can be a great thing for creating difficult high catches. At the end of the day, I think that you want your training and fielding sessions to be more testing than you’ll find in matches. We have a saying at Warwickshire, ‘train hard, play easy’ and I think that works particularly well for fielding.”
CATCHING – AS IT COMES NATURALLY
“I catch the ball out in front of me in the traditional English way. It feels comfortable to me. It also makes recovering a bobbled catch more likely.
“But if I’m pressed up against the boundary, for instance, I will take the ball reverse-cup style. But generally I’ll look to catch it at about eye level, out in front of my face.”
GREAT FIELDERS
“When you’re faced with a great fielder they feel like they are right on top of you. Someone like Jonty Rhodes was there every time you looked up. You were aware of him every time you played a shot.”
COMMUNICATE
“If you are out on the legside boundary and there is a lot of space between the inner ring and you stood in the deep, there is always the chance for the batsman to pick up two if they roll the ball into the outfield instead of cracking it out to you.
“On these occasions it is important to attack the ball, coming off the boundary at pace, very often going for the ball with one hand and on the run. A good example of a need for good communication between fielders occurs if you are stationed out at deep midwicket and are going to attack the ball hard to prevent two runs being taken. You will need to let long-on know of your intention. He will then need to run around the boundary and cover behind you in case you miss it. If they are going to get two anyway – if you went for it defensively – then if you misfield it as you attack, there is nothing lost. Especially if long-on is sweeping behind you. But if you do attack it and pick it up cleanly, the run-out opportunity is on.”
