Editing Fielding (cricket) (section)

=== Other positions ===

*[[Wicket-keeper]]
*Long stop, who stands behind the wicket-keeper towards the boundary (usually when a wicket-keeper is believed to be inept; the position is almost never seen in professional cricket). It was an important position in the early days of cricket, but with the development of wicket-keeping techniques from the 1880s, notably at first by the Australian wicket-keeper [[Jack Blackham]], it became obsolete at the highest levels of the game.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cricket: The Long Stop |journal=The Maitland Daily Mercury |date=18 February 1928 |page=9 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128191820}}</ref> The position is sometimes euphemistically referred to as ''very fine leg''.<ref>[http://www.ovalbooks.com/bluff/Cricket.html Bluffer's Guide to Cricket<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723201923/http://www.ovalbooks.com/bluff/Cricket.html |date=23 July 2008 }}</ref>
*Sweeper, an alternative name for ''deep cover'', ''deep extra cover'' or ''deep midwicket'' (that is, near the boundary on the off side or the on side), usually defensive and intended to prevent a [[four (cricket)|four]] being scored.
*[[Cow corner (cricket)|Cow corner]], an informal jocular term for the position on the boundary between ''deep midwicket'' and ''long on''.
*On the 45. A position on the leg side 45° behind square, defending the single. An alternative description for backward short leg or short fine leg.
The [[Bowler (cricket)|bowler]] after delivering the ball must avoid running on the pitch, and so usually ends up fielding near silly mid on or silly mid off. Fast bowlers will continue running to exit the pitch and only change direction for balls dropped in front of the wicket. Spin bowlers with the slowest run-ups will usually cease their movement immediately after their delivery, planting their feet before the ball arrives to the batsman to react to a ball hit back up the pitch toward them. The bowler is generally understood to have the responsibility to defend the stumps at the non-strikers end of the pitch and so after a shot is made they will return to the stumps to catch any incoming throw, on rare occasions where a wicket-keeper has fallen or had to run to gather the ball the bowler may be the closest to the non-strikers stumps as well and so will move to the other end of the pitch. Once the play is dead they will walk back toward their bowling mark. In the laws of cricket the ball play is considered dead after the runners have ceased attempting to score and the ball has been returned to either the wicket-keeper or the bowler.