Bangladesh's slip fielding

[cricket_pagol]

Good review by Surfer... definitely learned a few things about slip fielding. I think Sakib has qualities needed to become a good slip fielder... he has good reflexes and solid temperament/concentration.

[yaseer]

Important issue raised by the writer here.

Tried to find some areas for poor slip fielding:

1. Slip fielders do not concentrate all time
2. They possition themselves far behind the wicket. Sometimes i question myself do they do it intentionally to keep themsleves safe? so that they can say the ball did not carry?
3. Because of Slow wickets in BD, not much catches travel to slips...to players do not have practice in domestic matches....and thats why BD is not able to produce specialist slip catchers.
4. Slip fielders dont expect catches to come their way...that hampers their concentration

[Nocturnal]

Good thread. Thanks Mahir.

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by cricket_pagol
Good review by Surfer... definitely learned a few things about slip fielding. I think Sakib has qualities needed to become a good slip fielder... he has good reflexes and solid temperament/concentration.

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
awesome post Surferman... please apply ASAP for the position the temporary fielding coach BCB's trying to find for the upcoming lanka tour... i'm NOT being sarcastic bro.

Thanks for the appreciation and the encouragement

[rah]

aftab is a great feilder at point but ill like to rajin in slip

[Mahir]

Thanks for your acknowledgements and understanding the significance of the matter. Slip fielding is a critical part of Test cricket, and it is an area where a lot of improvement is necessary towards building a specialist or two.

Sakib can be (read: should be) trained for this position. To put it bluntly, this guy has by far the coolest mind in the team, and has the potential to master slip fielding. Mehrab jnr, Rajin, Ashraful, Enam could cover the sqaures, and Mashrafee has no business in standing at the slip cordon.

Any specialist slip fielder coming up from the U-19 / domestic ranks ?

BTW, a fine post by Surfer there

[Electrequiem]

Hopefully Ash employs better fielding than Bashar.

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Electrequiem
Hopefully Ash employs better fielding than Bashar.

no need to hope bro, it's impossible not to.

[cricket_pagol]

I don't blame bashar for our slip fielding deficiency... I would blame our coaching staff and domestic structure for not having more competitive 4 day games.

I think it will take some time for our slip fielding to improve, but all our players are very young it should not take too long.

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by cricket_pagol
I don't blame bashar for our slip fielding deficiency... I would blame our coaching staff and domestic structure for not having more competitive 4 day games.

i'm trying my best not to bash the bash anymore... but i'd blame both. bashar's utter lack of athleticism as a fielder aptly aided by the all too familiar pack-a-day attitude, didn't help matters any. he never posted more than a single slip in most of his pathetic field settings anyway.

[ammark]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
i'm trying my best not to bash the bash anymore... but i'd blame both. bashar's utter lack of athleticism as a fielder aptly aided by the all too familiar pack-a-day attitude, didn't help matters any. he never posted more than a single slip in most of his pathetic field settings anyway.

...or the slips were there, mash and rajib just found their rhythm, and he removed the slips that were standing too far back, to save runs at the boundary. Then there was the edge that went for 4 which third man failed to stop, and he brought back the slips only to find the batsmen had wisened up to the deliveries. Oh how this scenario repeated in the games we watched

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by ammark
...or the slips were there, mash and rajib just found their rhythm, and he removed the slips that were standing too far back, to save runs at the boundary. Then there was the edge that went for 4 which third man failed to stop, and he brought back the slips only to find the batsmen had wisened up to the deliveries. Oh how this scenario repeated in the games we watched

perfectly put bro. i'm glad that we've just left those ugly times behind.

[BANFAN]

Originally Posted by Mahir
Obviously this thread comes in the light of a very crucial dropped catch in the slips in the recently concluded 2nd Test against India, ...........

In the recent times including worldcup, I don't question the ability of the fielders there rathar, their positions were always wrong, primarily too deep. Slips were positioned to sleep. It was a captaincy mistake.

I think because of his defensive attitude he did not think much on the slips, was positioning them somehow when the ball was new and was itching to remove them to cover over areas to go on the defense as soon as possible. He was more worried, to calculate when he can remove the slips rathar thinking about the pace, carry and movement of the ball, to place them in the right distance & loc

Bowlers, offcourse are also to share some of the blames for not thinking if the place is right for his bowling and suggest the captain.

Because of being too deep, even if the ball carried, it was always low and difficult catches. Mostly we have seen, ball not carrying to the slip fielders.

[Ahmed_B]

Mashrafee has probably been the biggest victim of poor slip feilding. Almost in every match he falls victim to dropped catches and many times it is dropped in the slips. His wicket counts actually would have been higher if he was playing with a better fielding side.

[Tigers_eye]

At the boundaries players have few seconds to adjust before the ball comes to them. At the slip that is not the case.

How many times I have to say it is the concentration /attention/ and keeping the head in to the game for 100% of the times is the key? Read Surfers post #24. It is screaming at you saying being alert is the key. That is the specialty of that position. One don't have to be a great catcher like Jhonty. But must pay attention or be mind full of the ball.

1. Attention.
2. No lapse in concentration.
3. Mindful.
4. Being Aware.
5. Noticing and anticipating (putting weight on the correct foot to move towards the ball) what is happening to the ball.

These are the key in slip fielding. It doesn't matter how many hours you have pracitced or how good you are in catching balls. I don't know how else to say this.

[Mahir]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
At the boundaries players have few seconds to adjust before the ball comes to them. At the slip that is not the case.

How many times I have to say it is the concentration /attention/ and keeping the head in to the game for 100% of the times is the key? Read Surfers post #24. It is screaming at you saying being alert is the key. That is the specialty of that position. One don't have to be a great catcher like Jhonty. But must pay attention or be mind full of the ball.

1. Attention.
2. No lapse in concentration.
3. Mindful.
4. Being Aware.
5. Noticing and anticipating (putting weight on the correct foot to move towards the ball) what is happening to the ball.

These are the key in slip fielding. It doesn't matter how many hours you have pracitced or how good you are in catching balls. I don't know how else to say this.

And that is exactly why you have some specialist players to do the special job in your team. Not any good fielder can/will be placed in slips. And that's not how it happen anyways. Some fielders who usually cover the deep in the middle overs, are supposedly good at covering deep. Their ability to take catches (high catches especially), running, agility come into question then. In slips, you need to have quick reflexes and be attentive. One could go on to say that Sakib might master the slip fielding, while Tamim will be very good as a deep fielder. Anyway, enough with the theories on slip fielding. I think we all get the general essence of what's needed to be good in this position. Refer to Surfer's Post # 24, and a few tidbits that T_e gives here (except his claim that slip is not so specialised of a position ).

How about comparing our current crop of players ? Who do you think could become regular "specialist(s)" to stand in the cordon ? Have you seen any such fielders in the U-19 / domestic ranks ?

And,

... why oh why does every thread has to turn into a Bashar-bashing one ? Not necessary anymore, guys. Let bygones be bygones. Given myself a warning in the first post :

Originally Posted by Mahir
Let's discuss on this with only our fielding abilities in mind, disregarding the field-placing factor.

So we could go on forever about some poor field settings in the recent past, since Sir Bashar had quite a few instances to show for. Cease the bashing, guys. Come to the point and look to the future.

[Mahir]

So is Junaed the answer ? That was a damn good catch to send Bell back. Also saw Tamim there for some time, although Mashrafee, as i reckon, is the usual preference of our captains to stand in slip in Tests, especially when a spinner is on.

P.S. Sorry for the dig out...

[One World]

It was an awesome job in the slip. Some improvement in the air.

[scoilaheez]

Finally, we got a good slips catch, i think Siddons should train up ashraful as a slip catcher, similar to what SRL did with Jayawardene.

[AsifTheManRahman]

What do people have to say about Mushy's keeping? Tsk tsk...

[tiger_army]

Junayed took an excellent low diving catch today.....good concentration by this guy...we need more slip fielders like him

[tiger_omar]

That was a special slip catch, specially for a tall man like him.

A bit out of topic, Mushfiq's wicket keeping performance was really good today as well, and its great to see him start to silence his critics who never believed in his keeping abilities. Hope he can continue the good work.

[tiger_army]

Originally Posted by tiger_omar
A bit out of topic, Mushfiq's wicket keeping performance was really good today as well, and its great to see him start to silence his critics who never believed in his keeping abilities. Hope he can continue the good work.

yea this kid got some ribs, his last catch was the best one, so other ones.....

[zainab]

Mushy will improve with playing more matches. He has really improved since the World Cup. Boucher, Gilchrist and Sangakkara did not become good keepers overnight, it took them years,. Mushy is a dedicated cricketer. give him time and i am sure Bd will stick with him. IMO, there should be two specialist batsmen/keepers in a national team, alternationg for tests and ODIs.

[Foozy]

Siddons seemed to be giving slip fielding drills before the NZ tour. Now I dont know if he had anyone particular in mind or it was just a random drill.