Fielding strategy links?

[cricnewbye]

I being quite new to cricket i came to the point in whcih i need to find out what kind of criteria the captain is referring to when he fields the team on the pitch. I have surfed the web and these forum but i couldnt find an exhausitve reference page, can you help me? I just wanna know when he decides to field the team deep on the boundaries rather than on the off/leg side etc...i already studied what restriction are enforced during ODIs and test matches and thats ok, now i need to properly understand personal tactics.
Thanks.

 

[honestbharani]

Well, basically, the fielding captain sets a defensive field (with 4 to 5 fielders, maybe more, guarding the boundaries) whenever a weak bowler is on (which sometimes happens to get through some overs and give the main bowlers a break) or when a batsman is in great form and is batting with a lot of runs under his belt (like say a Lara on 170*) because otherwise, in either case, the chances of the ball reaching the boundary is far greater. When the bowler is one of his best guys, then the captain usually tries to attack (which means more fielders near the bat and less guys out on the boundary) or if the batsman are not so good or if they are in bad form, then too, the captain tends to set an attacking field. These are mainly in test cricket, in ODI cricket the pattern is pretty set, although the new rules might change that to an extent.