Who are your favourite fielders?

[Athlai]

 

[Beamer]

Surprised Dwayne Bravo hasn't got a mention, brilliant in the field; quick athletic, and agile. I remember him taking one of the best caught and bowled catches i have ever seen.

I agree. He is amazing in any position as he is an exceptional athlete. He is up there with the best in World cricket.

 

[GIMH]

My fave slipper ever was Tresco tbh

 

[Furball]

Flintoff, Hayden, Smith and Kallis are probably amongst the best slips.

Cover/point fielders I'd look at AB de Villiers, Gibbs, Ponting, Clarke, Symonds, Bell and Collingwood.

edit: James Anderson deserves a mention, probably the best fielder amongst quick bowlers. Brett Lee isn't too bad either.

 

[Jamee999]

 

[GIMH]

What a catch!

 

[Burgey]

Referring to AB, you fellas mean the real one, and not the young Saffie pretender I take it?

M Waugh was a great fielder, Yuvraj was good when he used to give a **** as well.

Jonty of course.

As for that Strauss catch, it only stuck to his hand because of the stickiness on the ball from the ****ing mints.

Cheating bastards.

 

[GIMH]

I just knew when I saw you had posted that mints would be mentioned

 

[fredfertang]

It left the bat pretty f***ing quick

 

[Burgey]

It left the bat pretty f***ing quick

That was Gilly's bat speed

 

[sammy2]

Best out feild catcher has to be chanderpaul

best slip catcher is gayle

 

[Beamer]

This was the best caught and bowled I have ever seen.....

 

[PhoenixFire]

I remember seeing that live actually. It was stunning, the way in which he completely changed the momentum of his body was awesome, as well as actually holding onto the catch after falling to the floor, keeping hold of it after the initial impact with the floor must have been hard.

 

[Atreyu]

I still call this the best Caught and Bowled Ive seen.

Anyway. Jamie How definitly deserves a menton here. His batting may not be up to scratch but he is a very very Good fielder.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

His batting may not be up to scratch but he is a very very Good fielder.

Shame he dropped a sitter in the recent test really, but he is a decent fielder but maybe not quite as good as some of the exalted company on this thread.

 

[Richard]

As for that Strauss catch, it only stuck to his hand because of the stickiness on the ball from the ****ing mints.

Tough to explain the 25 catches (or whatever it was) England put down that series via that route then.

 

[Richard]

As a former quick, the fielders I always valued the most were slips.

Im not overly interested in athletic out fielding or cover fielding. Thats not where I needed quality. The most important and special fielder to me is the quality slipper.

Yeah. Insofar as practical effect and importance to influencing the outcome of the longer form of the game is concerned, slips are easily the biggest players in the field. Though they've nowhere near the aesthetic appeal that a really good outfielder has. Clearly in the shorter game the outfielder's importance increases considerably but catching is still the most important skill, more than picking the ball up off the ground, diving for it or throwing it back in.

As far as the best I've seen are concerned:
Slipper to the seamers - Graeme Smith
Slipper to the spinners - Mark Waugh
Slipper to the seamers from England - Nick Knight, with Michael Atherton a close 2nd
Slipper to the spinners from England - Nasser Hussain
Outfielder - Jonty Rhodes (obviously)
Outfielder from England - either Paul Collingwood or Alan Mullally (joking there, obviously)

Best ever might've been Colin Bland, always wished I'd seen him field live at the ground. That's the only real way to truly appreciate the quality of an outfielder.

 

[susudear]

Colin Bland

Colin Bland may disagree with you there susu, dear.

While no way disrespecting Bland's contributions to fielding, It was Jonty who made fielding a "***y artform", by showcasing electric fielding and smooth throwing in the World Cup 92. It completely changed teams' outlook to fielding and specialist point fieldsmen are in vogue since then.

 

[zaremba]

Yeah. Insofar as practical effect and importance to influencing the outcome of the longer form of the game is concerned, slips are easily the biggest players in the field. Though they've nowhere near the aesthetic appeal that a really good outfielder has. Clearly in the shorter game the outfielder's importance increases considerably but catching is still the most important skill, more than picking the ball up off the ground, diving for it or throwing it back in.

As far as the best I've seen are concerned:
Slipper to the seamers - Graeme Smith
Slipper to the spinners - Mark Waugh
Slipper to the seamers from England - Nick Knight, with Michael Atherton a close 2nd
Slipper to the spinners from England - Nasser Hussain
Outfielder - Jonty Rhodes (obviously)
Outfielder from England - either Paul Collingwood or Alan Mullally (joking there, obviously)

Best ever might've been Colin Bland, always wished I'd seen him field live at the ground. That's the only real way to truly appreciate the quality of an outfielder.

No Graeme Hick or Ian Botham?

Derek Randall was a favourite from my youth. I seem to recall him backing up from his own throw (ran around the stumps and got the ball himself) although someone will hopefully be able to confirm or deny whether this actually happened.

 

[Richard]

No Graeme Hick or Ian Botham?

Botham was before my time (at least, almost all of his games were - by the time I was watching he was long past the time he should've been playing). Hick, well, yeah, he had great hands size-wise but I remember him dropping a decent share of catches, including a couple which cost a Test series (England in WI 1994). Can't ever have him up with the very best.

Derek Randall was a favourite from my youth. I seem to recall him backing up from his own throw (ran around the stumps and got the ball himself) although someone will hopefully be able to confirm or deny whether this actually happened.

Randall after Bland is the fielder I've heard\read the second-most about from before my time.