Do cricketers signal like MLB catchers do?

Thank you rugbyguy. Your input from an actual bowler's POV was most informative. Thank you Brett as well - you're one player who, by their own admission, sent signals to the bowler which was my original question. In test cricket, you're not going to have too many inexperienced bowlers so I can see how a veteran bowler would need little help on the pitch. Vinay - who were the great keeper/bowler combos in world cricket? And, conversely, who were the keepers who disliked keeping for a particular bowler?

Sometimes there maybe a signal from a bowler to the keeper or vice versa but generally the keeper is expected to be able to read any variation, particularly with a spinner. Other examples maybe the legside stumping between a medium pacer and the keeper up to the stump. But all in all, the bowler is supposed to work out how to get the batsman out.

rugbyguy,surely you must be high on your tinnie.."most great fast bowlers tend to be scholars" Mike Brealey and Atherton weres the last cricketers you would call scholars and they were both batsmen. Garth McKenzie was a teacher but not schorlarly. Maybe in NZ a lot less passes for scholarly.

how right you are! having a plan is one thing, executing is another and getting the batsmen to play along is a whole different thing altogether ;)

RG, it certainly wasn't/isn't a common occurance, what I was talking about, but it has happened. Of course, signalling is one thing, but the bowler still has to be able to carry through with the plan!!

As i said if any player spots something useful then they will say, but in the context of a baseball pitcher signalling every ball NO. If my keeper tried that i'd simply tell him to catch the ball and leave the bowling to me. and not in such freindly words. Perhaps if the bowler is a muppet they might need contant instruction but in my experiance muppets usually dont make good bowlers, most great bowlers tend to be scholars of the game and capable of thinking for themselves.

Untimely, as an alternate to Rugbyguy's bowling perspective above, I've stood in the slip cordon for most of my grade cricket life, and from there we have occasionally done something as simple as point to our feet or head to signal to bowlers (young bowlers usually) to bowl fuller or shorter. We might also make a shaping gesture to signal an in- or out-swinger is required. Generally speaking though, RG and Vinay (and others) are correct, more often than not it'll be the 'keeper or one of us in the cordon who might speak to the bowler at the end of the over to let him know what we've seen from behind. Things like the grip, or batsman's initial feet movements might not be so obvious from in front of the wicket.... So, to answer you main question, 'occasionally'...

Untimelyzapped,there is nothing obvious that a 'keeper does or signal. Unlike in baseball you have a batter at the non-striker's end who can see any obvious signal from the 'keeper. Fielders are changed and moved as the game unfolds. The good bowlers are the one's that adapt better and so too the batters. To answer another of your questions the wicket-keeper has a lot on his plate and that is why you don't see too many wicket keepers that are captains. Sangakkara gave up the keeping duties when he became captain. I can see Dhoni doing the same down the track. 'Keepers should pick up body language. As Ian Healy says it may be something as innocent as the tapping at the crease. He talks of mind games to upset the batter like calling out within earshot: " I don't think this batsman can play the hook" Keepers also talk to the bowler at change of ends. I have even seen bowlers talking to the keeper or captain while cupping their lips so the batter can't lip read. Tactics are continuously being employed but you don't change it every ball. A cricket adage is that you cannot set a field for bad bowling.

As a bowler i can say that it has never happen to me, Occasionally the keeper has come and told me that he has spotted some kind of weakness or something i can use against the batsmen, maybe the batsmen isn't moving his feet well so he may be an ideal candidate for a yorker, but any player not just keeper or captain will come and say so if he spots such a weakness. Usually the captain will say what the plan is and how he would like me to bowl at the start of a spell or over. Sometimes if a batsmen is charging down the pitch i will signal the keeper to come up to the stumps to try and get a stumping, sometimes i will try to let the keeper know if im going to bowl an unexpected delivery like a bouncer, but unless the keeper spots something he thinks is important then he generally just reacts to what happens, and the same goes for the rest of the team, they have a general idea of what delvery is coming but i am the one who decides when to swing or cut the ball. its a bit of a mind game betwen the bowler and the batsmen, if i think he is gonna try to defend i might swing it away to catch the edge, if i think he's gonna have a slog off the backfoot i might try cut the ball back into the stumps, that kind of thing, but its not an exact science and i'm just an amatuer who plays for fun In general me and the captain make a plan for a given batsmen at the start of an over and i try to implement it, the other big difference from basebal is that a plan to get a batsmen out is not just one ball you usually try set him up first, i might try to manipulate the batsmen into defending or playing off the backfoot so i can set him up for the one i fire at his head. In repsonse if the batsmen is expecting a short ball he may come down the pitch to turn it into a good length for him to play. Its a bit of cat and mouse and never an exact science but these intricate strategic battles are just one reason why cricket is more interesting than baseball, the problem is that most of this duel of minds is missed by anyone who doesn't understand. In short No, the keeper doesn't tell me how or what to bowl. Player analysis is something that comes into play for pro's, by watching tapes you can pick up weakness in a batsmen's technique and make a plan to suit but this is done before the game. The best example to illistrate my point i can think of is Ross Tayor, a gifted batsmen but he has a tendancy to lose concentration and play the slogsweep at balls he shouldn't when under pressure, oppositions know this and try to set him up to do just that, he too knows this and has been working hard at removing this self-destruct moment from his game but every now and then he gets a rush of blood to the head swipes at one he shouldn't and hits it straight to a feilder, if you didn't know better it may seem just a lucky break but the bowling side probably planned it that way before the game even started. The bowler knows the plan and is the one who puts it in place, not the keeper.

I think catchers have more influence than captains in Baseball/softball. They have to call plays, pitches, all that sort of stuff. Catching is the best position in the game as you are in most control. In cricket, the captain has input with the bowler more than the wicket-keeper. Am I wrong? Unless the captain is the wickie, like Dhoni.

Vinay and Sheek - a postscript to my reply: before every game a baseball team sits down and discusses the relative weaknesses of the batters on the opposing team. If the batter has no glaring weaknesses the order is often to "Smoke him high and inside." But once they get out on the diamond, and pitcher and catcher get a look at the batters, they may find that some batters are handling their least favorite pitches quite well, so catcher and pitcher will change strategy. This must surely happen in cricket when what was decided in the pavillion before the game turns out to be no longer valid and a change is called for. I'm assuming that a good captain will quickly spot when something's not working and order a switch. I'm also assuming that this is the reason many captains field close to the pitch. Could it be that wicketkeeper is the ideal spot for a captain?

Thank you both, Vinay and Sheek, but neither of you really answered my question. In not doing so I gather that a keeper never signals the bowler which seems to me strange. The keeper's in the best position to see how a batsman is reacting to particular deliveries. Why then does he not pick up on something the bowler might have missed and signal for a particular kind of ball? For example, would the keeper signal to the bowler that a ball wide to the leg might tempt the batsman into a behind the wicket sweep in which case the keeper will move wide to the leg in advance? I'm well acquainted with the sight of a batsman looking around at the field placements to see if they've shifted, but it seems to me that a good defensive keeper could have a lot more input if he communicated secretly with the bowler during the over as long as the bowler is willing to take his advice. Vinay, in ball games of all descriptions teams that play each other regularly know of each others' weaknesses. And there have been some famous ones in cricket - I'm thinking that Bedser knew how to bowl to Bradman - and in basball a team meeting is alway held before the game to plan strategy, mainly what kind of pitch a particular batter hates to see. Cricket batsmen must suffer from the same malady and therefore must see a lot of deliveries they'd prefer not to see.

To expand on Vinay's comments, each bowler has 6 deliveries. Usually his teammates know what different kinds of deliveries he is going to bowl, this would have been discussed previously. For example, the fielders might know, from the general dispersion of field placings, that the batsman might get two bouncers (short-pitched deliveries) somewhere in the 6 deliveries. Whereas baseball might react on every ball bowled, cricket tends to have a longer timeframe for quick change of tactics (sounds like an oxymoron - longer timeframe for quick change of tactics!)......

untimelyzapped,cricket is not so obvious. Nowadays with technology teams have well defined plans for every opposing batsman and for bowlers. Crciket is like chess. You make a move,say bringing in an extra slip,and the batter can see what you are doing and he will counter by playing tighter and closer. A batsman may be batting out of his crease and the wicketkeeper will stand up to prevent this. It is thrust and counter thrust. When Cronje was captain the coach miked him up one day at the SCG and was relaying tactics. The umpires put a stop as this was against the spirit of the game. But then Cronje was not always within the spirit.