For both professional and amateur cricket teams to succeed, strong slip-catching is essential. It can be very different from a dropped catch to a taken catch in games where the best batsmen commit very few errors! You will become an invaluable member of your squad and help your side win more cricket matches if you can develop into a competent slip fielder. It’s no accident that some of the greatest slip fielders in history have played for the greatest cricket teams of all time, including the West Indies in the 1970s and 1980s and Australia in the 1990s! These teams were led by players like Carl Hooper, Ricky Ponting, and Mark Waugh, and I think we should aim to emulate their strategies as much as we can! Scroll down to read Cricket Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Slip Catching.
Cricket Tips And Tricks To Improve Your Slip-Catching
Being a successful catcher in the slips requires a high level of focus, lightning-fast reflexes, and superb hand-eye coordination. I’m going to provide you with some advice in this piece that will enable you to upgrade your talents!
Here are my 11 Cricket Tips And Tricks To Improve Your Slip Catching:
- Set a good, Solid Foundation
- Get Your Alignment Correct
- Stay Low for as Long as Possible
- Decide Whether You’re Going to Watch the Ball or the Bat
- Use the Batsman’s Footwork to Anticipate the Type of Catch You’ll Receive
- Use the Reverse/Orthodox Cup Catching Techniques
- Relax Your Hands
- Find a Way to Help Yourself Stay Focused
- Use the Wall Bounce Drill
- Purchase Some Equipment & Perform Specific Slip Fielding Drills
- Practice the Spectacular Catches Too!
I’ll now go over each of these suggestions one by one and explain why using them will improve your ability to catch catches in the slips!
Set a good, Solid Foundation
Your starting position is crucial when fielding in the slip cordon. You can move fast to your left and right from a good base position, and if the ball goes above your head, you can also explode skyward.
There will be slight differences in this position for certain players. Some people prefer to take a slightly more erect stance, while others prefer to take a slightly more lowered stance. While some players prefer to have their elbows resting on their knees, others prefer to keep them apart. Please feel free to experiment with the position I’ve shown above and adjust as necessary to get the perfect fit. You will have to hold this position for extended amounts of time when fielding at slip; therefore, it needs to be one that your body can handle!
Get Your Alignment Correct
Before the ball is bowled, slip fielders should make an effort to ensure that they are positioned correctly on the field. If there is more than one slip in place, you will frequently need to coordinate with the wicketkeeper and the other slip fielders to get yourself into this proper position.
The player fielding at first slip should be the model for all other slip fielders to follow. For instance, the second slip should step backward so that they are both in front of and slightly to the side of the first slip. When fielding at the second slip, I like to place my inside foot one full stride apart from the outside foot of the first slip. Along the slip cordon, this pattern keeps happening. The third slip should be placed ahead of the second slip, somewhat to the side of it, and with its inner foot about a full stride apart from the outside foot of the second slip. You can get a decent idea of what a genuine slip cordon should look like from the picture below!
Stay Low For As Long As Possible
Many players follow this to stay as low as they can when fielding in the slips. This is because it is far simpler to start from a low base and rapidly push yourself upwards to grab a high catch than it is to drop yourself down and take a low catch if your starting posture is more upright. When fielding in the slip cordon, explosive actions are frequently necessary, and one motion is far more explosive than the other.
As the ball leaves the bowler’s hand, many inexperienced slip fielders will begin to stand taller, and if the ball travels swiftly towards them just above the ground, they will find it difficult to get back down to take the catch. Many of these fielders are adjusting their bodies in an upward manner without even realizing it until someone tells them to! To fix this, keep your hands at shin height and your knees bent while you watch the ball go towards the batsman, staying in your original posture. Even while you’re preparing to bowl the ball, you can utilize repetition to remind yourself to “stay low.”
You can swiftly catch the ball if it takes the edge and flies up towards your head by pushing up and bringing your hands up to your head. Your hands are almost in the perfect position if the ball goes down toward your ankles; all you need to do is make a quick adjustment to finish the catch.
Decide Whether You’re Going To Watch The Ball Or The Bat
Early on in their slip fielding careers, all slip fielders should make up their minds about whether they would rather watch the ball as it flies through the air in the direction of the batsman, or whether they would rather watch the batsman’s bat edge and wait for the ball to hit it! Both of these approaches are commonly used by slip fielders, and none is particularly superior to the other. It just boils down to whatever approach suits you the best!
Use the Batsman’s Footwork to Anticipate the Type of Catch You’ll Receive
This small piece of advice was given to me by a teammate during one of my first senior cricket matches, and it has stuck with me ever since!
If the batsman edges the ball toward you, you may utilize his movement to tell you what kind of catch you’ll need to make. The bowler has typically thrown a short ball that will bounce rather high if the batsman pulls back and attempts to play the ball off the back foot. There’s a good probability the ball will reach you over waist height if the batsman edges this delivery.
The bowler is likely to have delivered a full ball that does not bounce as high if the batsman performs a front foot shot and moves their front foot down the pitch. It is therefore more likely that you will have to make a low catch, one that is below waist height, if the batsman misjudges this ball and edges it.
Use the Reverse/Orthodox Cup Catching Techniques
This advice won’t always work, of course; sometimes a batter will make a footwork error or the pitch won’t be bounced enough for the ball to reach you above waist height, but generally speaking, I’ve found these guidelines to be very accurate.
You will need to use your hands appropriately if you want to be a competent slip fielder. When fielding in the slips, I would estimate that 80% of the catches you will make will be ones that you can reach with both hands. You’ll need to dive a little bit and use only one hand to make the remaining 20% of catches, which will be harder!
To catch the 80% of balls that you can reach with both hands, you can use the orthodox cup and reverse cup catching method. The image below, on the left, shows the traditional cup technique.
Your small fingers should be in contact with one another when using this technique, so place your hands close together. The tips of your fingers ought to be pointing down toward the floor. The inverse of this is known as the reverse cup technique, which is shown in the image below on the right! Your thumbs on both hands should be in contact when holding the reverse cup with your fingers pointing upward toward the sky. By adopting these strategies, you can prevent the ball from bursting through the middle by keeping your hands close together.
The crucial aspect of the reverse/orthodox cup procedures is when you decide to apply them. You should use the traditional cup technique to catch any ball that is approaching you lower than your stomach. Apply the reverse cup method to any ball that flies at you higher than your stomach! You might not know which strategy to utilize if a batter edges the ball toward you and it is about stomach height when it reaches you. In this situation, I advise lowering yourself in your stance and bending your knees so that you can use the reverse cup to take the catch.
Relax Your Hands
Instead of tensing up your hands while you’re waiting for the ball, try to consider keeping them as calm as possible. We should be attempting to cushion the ball with our hands when taking catches in the slips. When the ball makes contact with our hands, we accomplish this by bringing our hands back toward our bodies. By cushioning the ball with our hands by moving them back into our bodies, we may lessen the impact on our hands, which makes it much simpler to catch the ball.
It’s quite simple to practice this! Simply grab a buddy and toss the ball back and forth between you to complete the task. Toss the ball up against a wall if you’re alone. When the ball lands in your hands, concentrate on drawing it in your direction each time you catch it. If you want this to come naturally to you, you’ll need to practice it a lot!
Find a Way to Help Yourself Stay Focused
If you’ve ever played cricket, you are aware that one of the psychologically taxing aspects of the game is fielding. It could take a long time for the ball to come to you, which indicates that many players tend to lose focus. It can be very expensive if you let this happen to you, particularly when fielding in a crucial area like the slip cordon. As a result, before every delivery, we should all have a few simple routines or techniques that enable us to stay focused.
Another thing I like to do is mentally switch off between deliveries to maintain a high level of concentration throughout extended periods in the field. I like to sing a song to myself or focus on something else as the bowler is heading back to the end of their mark and getting ready to bowl the next ball. I may also have a little conversation with the wicketkeeper or a teammate nearby. Little, easy actions like these can help you save mental energy so you can use it when you need it! Experiment with various methods and see which one suits you the best!
Use The Wall Bounce Drill
One of the easiest drills you can take to practice making quick decisions and making precise catches in the slip area is this one. What you’ll need if you want to carry out the drill is as follows:
- A tennis ball
- A flat wall that you can stand opposite
- A soft surface so you can dive around if needed
You can ask a buddy to hold the ball behind you and toss it against the wall for you to slightly up the difficulty of this workout. This implies that to execute the catch, you will need to closely monitor the ball because you will not be able to predict where it will go.
Purchase Some Equipment & Perform Specific Slip Fielding Drills
I would advise investing in a few useful fielding tools so that you can make the most of your practice sessions.
Rebound net
In essence, the product is a metal frame that can be adjusted, with a tightly woven net surrounding it. The net is a great way to simulate slip-catching because a ball thrown at it would rebound very quickly. As I’ve already indicated, most rebound nets have movable frames. This implies that you can test yourself against both high and low catches by adjusting the frame’s position! These nets are a lot of fun to use, especially when you’re practicing alone. I used them a lot when I was younger. You can also find a buddy to throw the ball for you at the net, just like you can with the wall bounce drill. Because you won’t be able to predict where the ball will land before it is thrown, this makes the catching drill a little more difficult!
Kitchen Training Aid
Essentially, this product is a little ramp that is placed on the ground. Throwing a ball at the ramp causes it to bounce off at different angles, which is ideal for improving slip-catching.
I would advise taking a stance four to five meters away from the training aid if you want to use one of them to practice slip fielding. The training aid’s raised edge ought to be facing you. As you take your position, ask a companion to toss a cricket ball onto the ramp, and then try to catch it yourself.
These are two excellent drills to practice catching slips. To train your hands to withstand the impact of the harder ball, I’d advise practicing as much as you can with a real cricket ball. Some cricket players may feel a little afraid when they have to catch a hard cricket ball during a match because they train with tennis balls too much. You should be able to avoid that if you practice with the tougher ball frequently!
Practice the Spectacular Catches Too!
The majority of the advice I’ve provided in this piece is meant to assist you in grabbing hold of the catches with both hands. But as we all know, things aren’t always so easy in cricket! As a result, you want to constantly work on making harder catches, like ones that call you diving sideways or catching the ball with one hand. We should practice these kinds of catches as frequently as we can because they have the potential to change the course of a real game! My guiding principle for cricket practice is to always aim to replicate the intensity of the scenarios we will encounter in a real match, if not more so!
The only way to make sure you’re ready to use your skills when it counts is to do this.
Work with a partner to practice more difficult catches. Have them stand four to five meters away from you and toss the ball just past your reach on either side of your body. They can also toss the ball far above you, so you’ll need to get up and leap up fast to collect it. You’ll need a nice, soft surface to play on for this kind of activity so you can jump and dive around without discomfort.
Fear of self-harm upon hitting the floor makes many players, particularly the more seasoned ones, unwilling to dive for the ball. You will become more comfortable with the impact and more willing to take a chance and go for the big catch in a real game if you practice this kind of thing.
Conclusion
A lot of attention to detail is required for the vital duty of fielding in the slips. You will become a far more dependable fielder in a role where dependability is crucial if you can use the advice I’ve provided you!
As is the case with most positions on a cricket team, experience is the key to becoming a better slip fielder. If you are a member of a cricket club, practice your slip catching a lot and offer to the field during matches. You’ll have no trouble becoming a top-tier slip fielder if you can practice at home in addition to combining these two skills.
Let me know if these Cricket Tips And Tricks To Improve Your Slip Catching work for you in the comments below, and also feel free to point out any extra tips that you think I’ve missed!
