I was watching the highlights from the first day of the third Test between England and Pakistan and was suddenly struck by how little thought goes into field placings these days.
No doubt that first paragraph will generate plenty of comments about team meetings, plans to get individual batsmen out et cetera, but I don’t believe this type of thinking takes into account batting in the 21st century.
Test batting has evolved in the new millennium in large part due to the amount of white-ball cricket being played. Batsmen now want to feel ball on bat and also want to score runs. There are precious few players with the concentration and technique required to bat all day and be 70 or 80 not out at stumps. There are no Chetan Chauhans or Geoffrey Boycotts at the top of the order, and only players like Cheteshwar Pujara come close to emulating their deeds.
That’s not a bad thing, but it puts pressure on the fielding captain to think harder about field placements if a batsman is keen to score runs.
When we consider attacking fields for a fast bowler we automatically think about lots of slips, a gully or two, a close catcher on the leg side and maybe a leg slip. What we also need to consider is how we cut off the flow of runs for a batsman who likes to score freely.
All good batsmen at the start of their innings have one or two ‘get off the mark’ shots. Generally it’s a nudge down to fine leg or into the legside somewhere,, but that’s not what this piece is about.
In the early stages of building an innings an easy source of runs these days is to use the edge of the bat to guide the ball down to third man. Why? Because no captain in the modern game puts a fielder down there, so on the playing surfaces Test players get to use the ball almost always goes for four.
This point is perfectly highlighted in the early stages of the England first innings, where the ball took the outside edge and safely went for four.
This caused lots of frustration for the Pakistan bowlers, yet even when they were down to two slips this run-scoring hole was not plugged. Why?
Fielding and bowling at Test level is all about building pressure in order to take wickets. Putting in a third man should be seen as an attacking rather than a defensive move.
It’s very different having a batsman getting an edge and scoring one run with them at the other end than having the same guy scoring a boundary and still being on strike.
There’s another way to look at it. Four edges with no third man means 16 runs and the batsman’s away, four edges with a third man means four runs and the batsman still has a long way to go just to reach double figures. The bonus to this scenario is psychological. Bowlers aren’t having conniptions because they’ve had a boundary scored off a decent delivery and so can concentrate on the next delivery.
The third man is a very productive area for Indian batsmen, so much so that in white-ball cricket it’s not uncommon for Australia to place a fielder at a very deep fifth slip to cut off the glide for one. Virat Kohli is an example of a batsman who uses this as his go-to area. In years gone by Virender Sehwag was another who favoured that area.
The modern batsman is also not afraid to play the slash over the slips because they know there’s no third man. Just the knowledge there’s a fielder there may cause a batsman to adjust how they play fast bowlers, and that’s a good result because the batsman is reacting, which could lead to a wicket.
There will be times and pitches where there’s no need for this position to be used – for example, at the start of an innings where the slips cordon is packed, flat pitches where few shots are coming off the edge or in conditions where the ball is not swinging. In those instances it’s fair enough to leave this area vacant, but only on these rare occasions.
It’s likely in the upcoming Test summer that runs will be at a premium given the strength of both attacks. Australia should not gift India easy runs because they fail to consider the third man as an attacking option.
Mike B
Guest
Yep, deep point is a rubbish position. Totally different from having a third man. One position is defending against shots off the middle of the bat and the other is stopping edges from good bowling being rewarded with a boundary. Deep point shouldn't happen unless your bowling is getting hammered and the bowlers are unable to bowl consistently to field.
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Paul. I'm sorry have been offline for a few days and missed this story until now. One of my favourite topics and a major frustration for me watching any game of cricket. Haven't written an article on the Roar yet, but feel this topic is the one to dip my toe in the water on. Agree on the third-man position in Test cricket. One feels its because of the stigma, it feels a defensive move, so captains are reluctant to look reactive. I have always thought it was a great move depending on where that player came from. Dropping a third slip back to third-man is defensive, keeping third slip and moving square leg back to third-man is fine. And don't get me started on long-on and long-off, especially in ODI cricket to new batters....
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Too true Rowdy.. Top player and an even better person.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I’ve always liked Kallis, cricket is (was?) a richer game for his presence.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
(I bet you know what I’m going to say) —- Captains take wickets with field placings. I reckon modern captains, collectively, fail this aspect monumentally. They don’t create anymore. Obviously there’s little outbreaks of good captaincy here n there. But for mine there’s too much emphasis on team bonhomie and captain’s innings (wtf that ever is)
Carlin
Roar Rookie
That is true Paul. Deep point is a protective position and deep third man stops a bad shot getting more than it is worth. Hopefully the cricket season gets going and doesnt have any enforced breaks through COVID-19.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Exactly the frustration I was going through, Paul. Captains have to evolve with the times too. Fielding positions like 3rd man have been considered short form defensive positions for too long. Cutting off a players 'confidence shot' should be happening whether he's opening or eleven. It's an attacking move by getting in the batsmen heads.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Watching right now.. Look at the England slips.. Standing much more forward.. Think they were reading our comments? Now if only they can actually catch em.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
It was Kallis…ran the slip cordon. Set a World record for catches in the slips.. Under correction but think that still stands.
Paul
Roar Guru
I noted the same in the times I watched. I think it makes a real difference when you have what I term a "professional slips fielder". Guys like Mark Taylor or Mark Waugh would be very quick to judge how far back they should stand,obviously with cues from their keeper. I don't know who did this for South Africa but Mark Boucher was excellent at getting the slips cordon right.
Paul
Roar Guru
I totally agree abut your comment re deep point Carlin. That's a different scenario IMO because that position is trying to protect bad bowling, whereas deep third man is stopping edgy shots from being unfairly rewarded.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Thanks to better time zones I was able to watch quite a lot of this series.. An overriding and baffling scenario played out in the first Test and persisted throughout the series and that was the unusually large number of nicks and even thick outside edges not carrying to the slips.. Often falling just short.. Even Shane Warne picked up on it showing overhead graphics of Pakistans slip cordon standing in a 45degree line from the keeper.. England were guilty too.. They really needed to step forward a metre or 2..
Carlin
Roar Rookie
Really good read. I remember watching a test on TV when New Zealand was in India. Sehwag got off to a flier and Stephen Fleming reacted early on by getting a man in that fly slip position. It did stop the flow of runs. One fielding position that I cannot handle seeing been used early in a test match or even at the start of new day of a test is deep point. This allows the batsmen and easy chance to get off strike and start building their innings for the day. This may be contrary to your main point of the article but I would rather see them using their skill by square driving or getting the ball past a regulation point fielder. The risk is to concede a boundary early on though. I also think a number of teams do not get a play in close on the off side as much as they use to a spinner. Having that person there creates a lot of uncertainty for a batsmen.
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
Insightful article Paul. Aside from placing so many fielders into slips at the start of an innings, there often seems little further strategy after that. If I recall this was a comment about New Zealand's field placings last summer. One would expect that the coach and captain would spend a great deal of time planning the field, including how to respond when the other team begins to get on top. You've brought up another interesting sub plot as to what we may see this summer.
Alan Tickle
Guest
Couldn’t agree more. The trend started on the Ashes tour under Ponting with the edges for 4s causing bowlers to get closer to the stumps which opened up the legside and slips out of the contest. Tests and the ashes lost by a handful of runs. A third man or fly slip would have changed history.