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[uknsaunders]

Does anybody have a problem with in-fielders creeping in and then getting the ball smacked past them because they are too close? Seen a fair amount of it over the last couple of years and frankly it does my head in. Today we had one bowler with the field roughly 30 yards back, walking in, which was fine. At the other end everybody was about 15-20 yards from the bat and it took a fair amount of shouting to get them back. They looked like I was mad, but they were far too close and one of the bats had already spooned one no more than 25 yards, just over their heads.

I'm of the opinion you try and go as far back as you can get away with. I played on fast outfields and big squares in my youth and having time to see the ball coming at you was why you did it. If you can get 40 yards away to a couple of older batsman then do it, you are more likely to save fours or take a lofted catch. Better players will pinch singles in those situations but you need fielders on the ball to assess batsman when they come in.

[Giraffe208]

Not too much although the younger ones are the players who need constant reminding about positioning etc in my experience

[19reading87]

Lol who was it??

[uknsaunders]

Scotty/Husselby but I've seen Phil do it off my bowling previously, even when I've asked him to stand in an orthodox cover position. I was telling the Headingley guys many times last season that when two 50-60 year olds are batting they aren't going to take quick singles!

[smilley792]

We have an issue with some of our youth walking in when placed on the boundary. And no matter how many times we tell them they always end up in!


Last ten overs, guys are hitting out, so "nath, long on, right on, stay on that line!"
2balls later the batsmen goes aerial but doesn't middle it.
We turn to watch nath take a wonderful catch. But NO! He's 20yrads in trying to back peddle.
Doesn't get a hand on it, and it's a one bounce four!
His reason "I was walking in"



*names changed to hide people's identities.

[pacman75cricket]

Mybugbear players not being in position to stop 1 or 4, n between + stop neither Ahhhhh.

[gdb19]

We have this as well - to be honest our midweek side is worse as people don't walk in too much but just wander around. As skipper it's really frustrating having to tell grown men each over to move back to where you originally put them.


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[uknsaunders]

We have this as well - to be honest our midweek side is worse as people don't walk in too much but just wander around. As skipper it's really frustrating having to tell grown men each over to move back to where you originally put them.


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Had the same issue yesterday lol - After 1 ball of my 3rd over I casually looked at my legside field, only to find my deep square leg at midwicket and my midwicket at square leg.

[lastmanstand]

agreed, also massive issue with people not listening to instructions. If you ask your mid on to go 2 yrds wider and then all of a sudden hes at midwicket. A yard/angle here and there makes a massive difference.

#FieldOCD

[joeylough]

Personally I find my mark, take 5 steps back and walk in when the bowler is halfway through his run-up.

If im on the boundary I like to stand off and walk on or just stand on the rope.

[Wickets-then-runs]

As a captain, it does my head in also! I find its with the lazy guys who believe they are only there to bat or bowl and fielding is just for the others. You put them in position, they walk in with the bowler on the first ball and stop. They then walk in on the second ball from where they stopped walking on the first ball... By the end of the over they are in so close the batsman is complaining about their bad breath! 
Cricket is a long, boring day in the sun if you don't embrace the fact that you better enjoy fielding.

[tim2000s]

We have this as well - to be honest our midweek side is worse as people don't walk in too much but just wander around. As skipper it's really frustrating having to tell grown men each over to move back to where you originally put them.


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We have a couple of guys who are bad at this. One puts himself where he thinks he should be for a bowler, not where the bowler has put him, and then tells other fielders to move to take into account his movement, meaning that the bowler doesn't have the field he thinks he is bowling to...

[uknsaunders]

The other problem is quite often you are trying to implement a plan to frustrate a batsman and get his wicket, but the fielders just don't get it. One of our guys was trying to bowl to a 7-2 offside field with the fielders in a deep lying ring to make it tough for the batsman to score. He was swinging it away at a gentle pace and bowling an off stump channel. The idea obviously to induce an edge on a slow deck and have him caught in the point/cover area. Our guys just crept in and let him thick edge it over the infield. They weren't paying attention to what the bowler was trying to do or back him up.

Later on I was bowling spin with backward point/point/deep extra/extra cover/mid-off and after 2 overs changed the field to reflect how their main batsman was batting. He liked to late cut/cut but not with any power and fairly square, or simply drop the ball into the offside and run. To counteract this I pushed my extra cover in closer, but also brought deep extra up to a square point, with point moving backward. He couldn't just drop the ball into the offside because of the short extra, or cut/late cut as I had 3 men in tight ring from just in front of square to backward point. First ball he opted to hit through leg and was bowled. I didn't bowl a different ball to the previous delivery, it was the field I set that earned me the wicket - or more importantly the fact they paid attention to what I wanted.

[The Palmist]

I personally adjust my position according to the shots played by batters and encourage team-mates to do the same. No point standing outside ropes to someone you know can't hit that far and same time no point staying in too close when the guy been tonking all day long.

[The Palmist]

Many batters in our league are quite limited in their range of strokes so I try to judge by their swings or what they are attempting to do and anticipate my fielding position. My captain appreciates this but sometimes bowlers have no clue.