Catching on

My favorite cricketer-writer (here I go again!) Aakash Chopra, talks about fielding at forward short-leg, easily the most dangerous place in cricket for a fielder. Read the article in its entirety. Some nuggets are reproduced below.

A key difference between fielding at short leg and silly point is the way the fielder protects himself when the ball is hit. At short leg you must go down as much as possible and become as small as you can: batsmen rarely try to keep the ball down while pulling or sweeping.

At silly point the fielder must jump to defend, because batsmen rarely try to hit the ball in the air on the off side. They aim to keep the ball along the ground, and hence you can avoid the line of the ball by jumping. While jumping you must remember not to turn your back towards the batsman because all your protective gear (shin-pads, abdominal guard and helmet) are worn on the front. Keeping an eye on the ball helps too!

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Is it scary?
The correct answer would be a firm "no", but the honest answer is "yes". I have been scared a few times. For example, while fielding at short leg when Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer were sweeping almost everything. The shots were so ferocious that the fielders at long leg - and this was at huge grounds like the MCG and SCG - were ducking for cover. A few yards left or right of them meant a boundary.

I got a real fright once when the ball hit my helmet on its way to crashing into the fence, bouncing only once in between.

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The moment I decide to allow the ball to hit me, the brain processes that information and prepares the body. It might sound weird, but once you know it's going to hit you, it doesn't hurt all that much.