44
A Fielding Focus
Above that is the
technical development
work: can they catch the
right way? Can they
throw the right way? Can
they dive in a safe and
effective way?
And at the top of the
framework is executing
skills under pressure.
This is what the elite
players spend a lot of
time working on, but it
also helps inform us of
what areas of their
technical game they
need to work on. For
example, you run a
practice under pressure
and one player always
fumbles the ball when
it’s on their right side. So
we can then identify that
technical aspect and
focus on improving it.
Improving movement
patterns
The best fielders in the
world all have one thing
in common: they all
played other sports to a
very high level. I’ve been
asked by a lot of parents
when their children
should start specialising
in cricket. My response is
always to encourage
them to play as many
different sports as
possible until they are
16–17 and ideally continue
to play other sports
throughout their lives.
Footwork and movement
patterns always benefit
as a result.
Once you have efficient
footwork you can get to
the ball faster and then
execute the technical
skills like diving, catching
or throwing. When
people take brilliant
catches on TV the
replays usually focus on
their body from the hip
upwards, but actually it’ll
have been their efficient
movement of feet that
made the catch even
possible.
We also need to look at
ourselves, make sure we
are getting across the
right messages in the
right way and that we
are running the practices
at a good intensity, not
letting them just
meander on.
With that in mind, let’s
look at a couple of
practices you can run to
help build those
movement patterns.