you wouldn't mind them in the test side? good fielding is pretty critical in tests as well...
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India's Next Captain
- Thread starter adharcric
- Start date
adharcric
International Coach
Good catching is more important than good ground fielding (ie athleticism) in tests. The men in the slip cordon and close-in positions are especially important but it does help to have someone like Yuvraj at point. That's why Dravid, Laxman, Kumble and Sehwag are not liabilities to the same degree in test cricket.
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
No, good catching is critical in a test side. Good slip catching especially, and Laxman isn't bad there.
holding on to your catches is important no matter what the situation but that doesn't mean you can leak runs like anything because of non-athletic fielders and not have it affect you at the end of the day...have you seen how frustrated a bowler gets when a batsman takes a two off him when there should only have been a single or a single or a leaked boundary when there should have been no runs...? you cannot just point to certain positions like you have done in your post and say that those are more or less all that matter...the point is we have so many non-athletic fielders that we cannot "hide" them anymore in the field...i am not really talking about spectacular fielding here but at least safe fielding practices that support our relatively weak bowling attacks....
i don't really agree that that is the only critical factor...look at the top teams and you will see that they are all excellent fielding teams as well and that has played an important(and underrated) role in their successes...
adharcric
International Coach
Every team wants athletic fielders and stronger arms in the outfield. Nevertheless, test cricket presents more of an opportunity to hide a lack of athleticism in your fielding unit. You can't just put five fielders close-in during one-day matches; in tests, that's very common. I'm not advocating unathletic fielders or even excusing the Indian fielding unit but rather merely presenting the reality that specialised catching is more important than athleticism in test cricket. That's why Kumble and Laxman make the test but not the one-day side.
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i understand what you are talking about from a present-day reality point of view....my point is that we shouldn't just focus on fielding just in one dayers, it should be a priority in tests as well...i mean, look at teams like australia and south africa or even new zealand, do you think they sharpen their fielding skills just for one dayers and adopt a more lackadaisical attitude in tests? of course not....and this is not part of a recipe for success just in recent years...look at the great west indian teams of the 80s and early 90s, they were excellent fielding sides as well....i am not saying we should dispense with a really good batsman just because he is currently a below-average fielder...what i am saying is that he should be made to improve his fitness and fielding abilities so that he is not that big a liability on the field anymore...i am also saying that looking into the future, we should push for the youngsters coming through to take this aspect of the game more seriously....
adharcric
International Coach
Couldn't agree more. I am not sure if someone like Laxman can become athletic through fitness training at this point - not an easy task at this age. As for the next crop of test cricketers, they have grown up in an environment where fitness is valued (in India, that's the last 5 years) and that explains the superior fitness of these guys. Everyone has seen Yuvraj, Kaif and Raina but even up-and-coming bowlers like Chawla (sharp), Jadeja (fields at point) and Nadeem (fields at point) are good fielders. The only concern is the fitness of village cricketers ie Munaf and certain fast bowlers ie VRV, possibly Ishant (though I haven't seen him yet). Definitely need an emphasis on fitness and fielding at all levels.
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adharcric
International Coach
Great captain? Based on what? Anyways, I don't want him to cement a place in the side as captain - he needs to do that by making big runs.
luffy
International Captain
Ok i believe he would be a good captain. He has a good knowledge of the game.
adharcric
International Coach
Fair enough. He needs to focus on the batting right now.
luffy
International Captain
Yeah that's true, it's proberley more important than captaincy
morgieb
Request Your Custom Title Now!
Wasn't India crap back then. They will lose 5-0 to Australia Ha, ha, ha!
adharcric
International Coach
That's neither relevant nor funny.
luffy
International Captain
(I've used that 5 tmes today, maybe it's saying something about the posting)