It was the last ball of the 51st over. In Australia’s last match, their first innings didn’t even reach the 51st over.
Here, they were only two down. That was why JP Duminy was bowling his off-spin. And that’s why, off the last ball of the 51st over, Hashim Amla dropped Steven Smith at first slip.
Amla is a slip fielder. He doesn’t just have the hands or the reflexes, he also has the experience. To be a good slip fielder, you need to have experience of various days.
Days where you receive multiple chances, days where you receive a solitary chance, and days where you receive no chance at all. Full days in the field, and partial days in the field.
In Perth and Hobart, Australia’s batting wasn’t good enough to bat whole days. It never tested South Africa’s bowling as thoroughly as much as what Australia’s batsmen would have wanted, and it also never tested South Africa’s fielding as thoroughly as what they would have wanted.
Amla is a professional. On the rare occasion when his concentration causes error, he figures out what the problem is, and fixes it.
With the Smith drop, the ball went up, but he couldn’t correct his mistake immediately by clinging onto the rebound. He had to wait until the next ball of the match to correct his concentration, with the drop fresh in his mind.
Test cricket requires concentration over more time than other formats of cricket. That obviously applies to more than slips fielding, but what makes slips fielding an obvious example is that you can’t afford a conga line of slips fielders in Test cricket. An unsettled cordon is always more likely to drop catches than a settled cordon.
A great fielder is not a necessarily a great slips fielder in Test cricket.
You don’t need a slip fielder for long, or at all, in T20 cricket. It isn’t nearly so much as a real thing in T20 cricket.
The value of a fielder as a slips fielder must be balanced against his ability in the infield or the outfield, with a heavy bias towards the latter qualities. With ODI cricket, the balance might go slightly to the value of slips fielding, but not by much.
The second day of the Test at Adelaide was enjoyable because Amla’s drop was an example of the challenges unique to Test cricket, that can be too much even for the most professional of professionals.
A dropped catch in 51st over? You’d already be back in the pavilion in even the longer of the two shorter formats.
Hamish Hutton
Roar Rookie
Cool article, I reckon that any park cricketer could relate to this aswell! The Joys of cricket
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Yes, it was a catch that should have been taken but on the same note both sides have dropped chances in the tests so far.
BrainsTrust
Guest
The best slips fielders are naturals and don;t seem to concentrate. Waugh was certainly the best, and is almost double the rate of catches than Amla who looks like a try hard. I don;t know where Amla usually fields, if he always been in the slips his record is ordinary if he is the number one slips fielder, and probably one of the great travestys in cricket was not having Mark Waugh in slips off the spinner earlier because Taylor was hogging the position, and Taylor is much better than Amla. With the flat wickets in one day and T20 cricket there is no use picking a player for their value as a slips fielder. Test cricket a good slips fielder is invaluable, catching is the most important aspect, usually you will find test most test cricket teams don;t take risks between the wickets, though this current Australian team is quite loony in its running, so good outfielding is worth something against them. In one day cricket and T20 , good catching is also very valuable, a good slips fielder will always be a good catcher elsewhere, but then the rest of fielding is also very important. If you have an Inzuman Ul haq,older Kallis,Mark Taylor the opposition will milk them. The only time that I have seen outfielding in test cricket being a huge factor was in the World 11 vs Australia, where Graeme Smith who fancied himself as a great slips fielder rather than being one, had Inzuman Ul Haq and Kallis patrolling the covers together and the Australians milked them endlessly.