Editing Fielding (cricket) (section)

===Fielding specialities===
Many cricketers are particularly adept in one fielding position and will usually be found there:
* Slips and bat pad require fast reactions, an ability to anticipate the trajectory of the ball as soon as it takes the edge, and intense concentration. Most top slip fielders tend to be top-order batters, as these are both skills that require excellent hand–eye coordination. Wicket-keepers and bat-pad tend to be amongst the shortest players of the team.
* It is common for the captain of a team to position themselves at slip or a similar close in fielding position. This enables them to remain close to the bowler, wicket-keeper and central umpire and to be able to survey the field from a central location in a similar manner to the batsman. It also reduces the energy they use during fielding as such positions are unlikely to require significant running or needing to shuttle back and forth swapping sides of the pitch when the batting partnership is one right and one left handed batter. Australian and New South Wales captain [[Mark Taylor (cricketer)|Mark Taylor]] was a specialist first slip fielder during his long career as an opening batsman. In his first match as the One-Day International captain for Australia he took four catches at first slip against the West Indies, and in Test Matches he effected 157 catches with a significant amount at first slip.
* Pace bowlers will often be found fielding in the third man, fine leg and deep backward square positions during the overs between those they are bowling. These positions mean that they are at the correct end for their bowling over. They should see relatively little fielding action with plenty of time to react, allowing them to rest between overs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=PitchVision – Live Local Matches {{!}} Tips & Techniques {{!}} Articles & Podcasts|url=https://pitchvision.com/|access-date=2020-09-08|website=PitchVision – Advance Cricket Technology {{!}} Cricket Analytics|language=en}}</ref> They also usually have an ability to throw the ball long distances accurately.
* Players noted for their agility, acceleration, ground diving and throwing accuracy will often field in the infield positions such as point, cover and mid-wicket. In short forms like T20 and One-Day internationals, the fastest players on a team will be used as "sweepers", on the sides the field at the very edge of the boundary where their pace can enable them to stop a ball from going for 6 or 4 runs.

Players are not selected purely because of their fielding skills in modern organised cricket. All players are expected to win their place in the team as a specialist batter, bowler or all-rounder. Due to the lack of restrictions on substitute fielders some teams will use a well regarded fielder from local club sides as an 'emergency fielder', who temporarily takes the place of another player and is prohibited from bowling, batting or acting as captain. An example of this was in the [[2005 Ashes]] series with England using [[Gary Pratt]], a 24 year old batter who was already past the peak of his batting career in first class cricket. Pratt fielded a quick single from Damien Martyn then threw down the stumps to dismiss Australian Captain [[Ricky Ponting]].

Wicket-keepers were the one exception to the rule, as their specialist position was viewed as being so important that fielding as a keeper was more important than their batting, although they were still generally expected to be competent enough to play at the #7 position in the batting order, before the usual four bowlers. [[Jack Russell (cricketer, born 1963)|Jack Russell]] and [[Alec Stewart]] were in a constant selection battle for England's wicket-keeper position, with Stewart's superior batting competing with Russell who was considered the best wicket-keeper in the world. The back and forth over who should keep wickets lasted for Russell's entire test career from 1989 through to his retirement in 1998. In the early 2000's the role of [[Wicket-keeper-batter]] was introduced with the success of the heavy hitting [[Adam Gilchrist]], elevating the expectations on the batting side of a wicket-keeper while retaining high level fielding ability. Wicket-keepers are allowed to bowl though this is extremely rare at higher levels, and no serious attempt has been made to use a wicket-keeper as a regular bowler in top level international cricket.