Slip catching is increasingly a specialist’s job – and made more so because white-ball cricket doesn’t have much of a place for it
Greg Chappell30-Jun-2025The old adage about catches winning matches remains as true today as it ever was. Yet few aspects of cricket are as underappreciated – and as challenging – as the craft of fielding in the slips and the gully. In recent Tests, we’ve seen teams drop chances that proved costly. But rather than pointing fingers, it’s worth understanding why these positions are among the most technically demanding and mentally exacting roles in the game.To be an effective slip fielder, desire is as important as technique. You have to want the ball to come your way. The mindset of a slip fielder isn’t passive; it’s anticipatory, alert, and hungry. As I have often said, if you’re in the cordon hoping the ball doesn’t come to you, you’re already in the wrong place.When fielding at first slip I found that I could watch the ball from the bowler’s hand. When positioned wider, I found it helpful to read the length from the bowler’s hand and then shift focus to the edge of the bat, where the catches would come from. The length of the ball tells you what type of catch you’re likely to receive. A fuller ball usually brings catches from the waist down; a shorter one, waist up. Forewarned is forearmed.Related
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The position of the hands is critical. For low catches, the fingers should point down. For anything chest height or higher, fingers up. Catches to either side? Then the fingers go sideways. But the toughest of all are those in the grey zone around the midriff, where indecision between fingers-up and fingers-down can undo even the best.For catches coming straight at the body, some excellent catchers, like Ricky Ponting, preferred to lower the body and take the ball fingers up, while Mark Waugh, one of the best ever, preferred to swivel slightly off-centre. If you let the ball hit you with the body square-on, there’s a risk of getting cramped – the hands end up too close to the torso, the arms can’t give, and the ball jolts out. By turning the body, you create space and softness, giving the hands a better chance.Footwork is just as important in the slips as it is with the bat. I liked to turn the foot outward on the side of the catch and always moved with the intention of taking it with two hands. That helped shift the weight over to the catching side, extending the reach. From that base, you can go one-handed if the ball demands it – but starting one-handed limits your mobility and often, your success rate.Slip fielding demands extreme concentration but not all the time. Like batting, it’s about rhythm: switch on for the ball, switch off between deliveries. I liked to keep things light with a bit of banter. It was a mental reset. I recall a new keeper once asked Allan Border to tell me to stop talking between balls. I explained to the keeper that if he tried to focus non-stop, he’d be mentally spent by lunch. Far better to join the conversation and refresh the mind.Physically, I stood with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms hanging and relaxed. My hands were lower in the stance because it’s easier to move up than to rush downward. Whether fielding to pace or spin, the set-up was the same: balanced, athletic, and ready to move in any direction.Among all positions in the cordon, gully might be the hardest. The ball often arrives faster, with less predictable angles, especially from cut shots and thick edges. It demands excellent reflexes and sharp anticipation. Unlike slips, who face a more vertical trajectory off the edge, gully fielders must read both width and depth – often in a split second. Catches in the gully are often pure reflex catches. The gully fielder may be the most important person in the cordon. Interestingly, two of the tallest men that I have seen on the cricket field, Joel Garner from the West Indies and Cameron Green from Australia, are among the the best I have seen in that position. Athleticism and wingspan are a compelling combination!Slip catching is notoriously difficult to replicate in training. Long drills with hard throws from 30 yards, as I saw India do in Leeds, don’t mimic match conditions. Very few edges in games come off the middle of the bat. Training should mirror reality. Reflexes, rhythm and confidence need nurturing, not battering.Left-armer Arshdeep Singh (right) will add variety to an India attack where the quick bowlers other than Bumrah are largely similar to each other•Bipin PatelIn my experience, the most effective practice came from short, sharp reflex drills. On match days I would have half a dozen sharp catches and walk away. I didn’t need reminding of how to catch, I just needed to switch my mind on to the task.India dropped several catches in Leeds, and while Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja were among those involved, both are usually safe hands. The drops I saw didn’t look technical – they just didn’t stick. It can happen to the best. That said, Jaiswal gives the impression of being low on confidence, or that he is suffering a hand injury. He seems to be hoping to catch them rather than expecting to. One of his missed chances came with him running in from the boundary – a low, skimming catch. For my money, that’s one of the hardest in cricket.With the advent of more white-ball cricket, the specialist slip fielder is not getting as many opportunities as was once the case. All the more reason why catching practice, in particular, has to be as game-like as possible.As disappointing as the fielding in Headingley was, it was not the main reason India lost the Test. Most of India’s problems were self-inflicted. Perhaps the most expensive error was the no-ball that gave Harry Brook an early life in the second innings. More concerning to me, though, is the lack of variety in the bowling attack. Apart from Jasprit Bumrah, India’s seamers are too similar – all right-arm, medium-fast, operating at comparable angles.There is a reason why wickets often fall after a change of bowling. It forces the batter to recalibrate. That variability isn’t available to Shubman Gill with his current crop. Without Bumrah, I’d like to see left-armer Arshdeep Singh added to the mix and Kuldeep Yadav, possibly the best wristspinner since Shane Warne, included in the attack.Even with Bumrah in the mix, the rest of the attack has to be more disciplined. I didn’t see two consecutive balls land in a dangerous place. They were either too full, too short or too wide. Bowlers have to work in partnerships as much as batters. All England have to do at present is to see off Bumrah and they know the pressure will go with him.Jadeja is not a front-line spinner in English conditions. If his batting is considered good enough, he can be a support spinner; otherwise a rethink is necessary. If India are to reverse their fortunes in this series then a better balanced team is required.I don’t agree that an extra batter who bowls should be selected as insurance against top-order collapses. The top six must be trusted to deliver the runs and that the best combination to secure the requisite 20 wickets is available to the captain.The selectors are the ones under pressure now. If batters and bowlers have to be prepared to take risks to score runs and take wickets, they too have to have the courage to take bold decisions.
