Wicketkeeping Masterclass - Jack Russell

 

Why footwork is overrated when keeping wicket

Deep Dasgupta in Cricinfo

I was recently asked for my opinion of Rishabh Pant's wicketkeeping. One of the things I spoke about then, apart from his good glovework, was how little he moved - which is the correct approach for English conditions. In general - and don't be shocked when I say this - footwork in keeping is overrated.

Don't get me wrong. Footwork is essential and an important facet of wicketkeeping, but the question is: how much and when should you move your feet? Since childhood I've been told about the importance of footwork and how good keepers never dive but rather just glide to the ball. "The less you dive, the better you are," I was told. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Like batting, with keeping too, it's your hands that will do the job. What footwork does is get you in good positions to catch or play the ball.

The problem with moving too much comes to light when the ball deviates from the predicted path - for example, when it takes an edge or if it changes direction after pitching, as it does when spin bowling is involved. If the keeper is on the move when the ball changes its predicted path, by the time he stabilises himself and reacts, it's often too late.

There are two critical phases when the keeper has to be stable - when the ball is pitching and when it is passing the bat. These are the two times when the ball is most likely to deviate. It is important to stay still, with a strong, stable base, at these times, to give yourself the best chance of reacting to likely changes.

Jos Buttler being dropped by Pant at Trent Bridge is an example of the keeper being on the move when the ball was edged. By the time Pant could stabilise and move, it was too late. (It was a tough chance, though.) If you take these two phases out, there isn't much time to move anyway, be it before the ball pitches or after it passes the bat.

The big argument for footwork is that it lets you cover a lot of ground. But how much ground does a keeper really need to cover for a seamer? On the off side, one would expect the keeper to reach till the first slip, and on the leg side a little bit more. First slip is about half a body length, so roughly one shuffling step away, or a dive. On the leg side, it's a step, then a dive - or another shuffling step or thereabouts. That is all the footwork the keeper needs. And that's all he will need, if he moves after the ball has passed the bat .Wriddhiman Saha's half-squat allows him remain stable and keep his eye on the ball Getty Images

Two of the best examples of not moving too much I can think of are MS Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha. Against seamers, Saha doesn't squat fully. He stays still in a half-squat till the ball passes the bat. It is the same with Dhoni - his movements are minimal and his hand-eye coordination is among the best that I've seen. His keeping looks unorthodox but his basics are extremely good and solid: he stays still for as long as possible, keeps watching the ball till the last moment, and backs his hands to do the rest. At times, he and Saha catch the ball like outfielders, with one knee on the ground (or "long-barrier", in cricket parlance).

Another argument in favour of the keeper moving is the concept of catching the ball inside the body - that is, catching it between the body and the line of the stumps - promoted by a lot of coaches and pundits. This originated, if my memory serves me right, in Australia.

The carry and pace of Australian pitches means the keeper has substantially more time, because he is further back from the stumps, to take an extra step on either side. It's not the same on low and slow pitches, like you get in the subcontinent. The reason I'm not a big fan of catching the ball inside the body is that theoretically it sounds good but it isn't practical on most pitches. I must add, though, that I do encourage catching on either side of the body - just to make sure the hands have enough room to move.

Catching depends a lot on eye-hand coordination. The eyes are like cameras - the more you move, the more blurry the picture. For me, the best way to capture a moving ball is to stay still. The hands will catch what the eyes can see.

Though wicketkeeping is an important aspect of the game - and a tough one - unfortunately it does not get the attention that batting, bowling and fielding in general do. As long as the keeper is catching them, it's fine, but if it goes wrong, "his basics are wrong", as someone said to the media about me once. Sounds funny now but trust me, it wasn't at the time! Due to this lack of airtime in the public discourse for wicketkeeping, discussion of it remains somewhat caught in a quagmire of age-old clichés and half-baked knowledge. I would like to see more people getting involved in the conversation and delving deeper into the thankless job called wicketkeeping.

Ian Healy on Wicketkeeping: 'Stay low, watch the ball and get your head over your gloves'

What's the main difference between keeping in Australia and elsewhere in the world?

You get more consistent bounce in Australia, so you have more time to move your feet, like Australian keepers want to. We want to move our feet to get outside the line of the ball and take the ball on the inside hip as you move towards the slips.

At Adelaide or Melbourne, at times, it doesn't bounce through consistently so you've got to work hard. But traditionally, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Sydney, they are good pitches that bounce through and give you time to move.

Wicketkeeping to the spinners is generally pretty consistent in Australia too. When the legspinner is on, the ball won't often not spin when it's supposed to. It might slide on a bit sometimes, but it won't do anything ridiculous. I think it's a nice place to keep.

What about in Asia?

In the subcontinent, the biggest challenge is reverse swing to the fast bowlers. Everyone thinks keeping up to the spinners is hard work in those places. But I think those pitches are pretty consistent. They might be slow, but again it won't suddenly drag, or really spin or bounce very often. But when you keep to Wasim Akram, standing quite close to the stumps because the ball carries through low, with it swinging late, that is really difficult - a very hard part of those wicketkeepers' jobs.

Keeping in the West Indies is quite hard, because it doesn't bounce through like it does in Australia, which means you've got to move up a little bit, which cuts down the time you've got to move your feet to those fast men.

In England, the bounce is good, comes through to you nicely, but it does wobble. Sometimes you've just got to survive and watch it into your gloves and not worry too much about moving. Just watch the ball and catch it.

What does a wicketkeeper need to be successful in all of those conditions?

A really solid set of basics. You need an idea of how your feet should go, your body height, your hands and your gloves. And most importantly, to be watching the ball, not watching for what might happen. If you have a good body position, you'll be able to react. You've got to trust that and take anything that you have to take. And then you have to do that 600 times in a day.

How important is it to practise well?

If you have a solid awareness of basics, then when the pressure comes on in a game, when it's getting tight or you're running out of time to win the match, you're not thinking bad stuff. You're not thinking ahead, or worrying about the outcome. You know what you have to put in to do your job the best. And before you know it, the game is over, things are done and you've had a good afternoon.

Mastering your basics is important so you know what works for you when you start thinking badly. You can go back to a set of simple statements that get you back on the ball.

Where should a wicketkeeper take the ball - on the inside or outside of the body?

Australian wicketkeepers, when we're standing back to the quicks and the ball is bouncing nice and consistently, we like to take it on the inside hip. So that's the left hip if it's a right-handed batsman and the right hip for a left-hander. We get our feet going and our body just outside the line of the ball.

If it starts wobbling or if you haven't got time for that, you just have to survive and catch it right in front of you. I've got no problems resorting to that for a little period until you get used to that wobble or that inconsistent bounce.

What are the advantages of that technique? 

I think the wicketkeeper is moving better, doing that. Their rhythm is set up to go with the ball, whether the batsman misses or edges it. That allows your slips to spread out a bit more and you get a greater coverage from your slips cordon.

Sometimes that doesn't work, though. Because some days a wicketkeeper doesn't feel as good as other days, so you have to position the slips based on how you're feeling on that day. You don't want to have a big wide gap between yourself and first slip if you're not moving very well. You'll get caught out and the misery will get worse and worse.

Should a keeper watch the ball or the edge of the bat?

You have to only watch the ball. You have to forget the bat. Forget the batsman is there. Watch it and expect the batsman to miss it every ball. Be in position to take the ball, even when they hit it, just in case. If you concentrate on that for 15 to 20 minutes, it becomes natural and your brain is just doing that and the session goes well.

When there is a nick and you're in great form, it feels like slow motion. It's just a delight to hear that edge. Here comes the ball, it's on its way. If you're watching it, that is.

What happens if you do watch the bat and not the ball?

You'll be a split-second late. Either your fingers won't grasp around the ball, or it'll be a jerky movement at the end, maybe to your right. You won't be powerful and smooth in your movement into the catch. You have a big chance of dropping it. Just those final reflexes will be too slow. If you are watching the bat, you'll look surprised if the ball comes through. That's when you know that you weren't watching the ball.

What's the ideal body position for a wicketkeeper?

It varies for different body shapes. You need to make sure you've got some power in your quads. That means knees slightly bent and your weight on the balls of your feet, not flat-footed, not on your heels or toes. You've got to have some power, ready to go if you need it. If you're watching the ball only, you'll be able to move nice and strongly to wherever you have to be.

How do you know when the ball feels right in your hand?

There's a difference between catching the ball and catching the ball right. The sound it should make going into your gloves should be a clean nice thud. You can hear when the ball scrapes into your gloves.

You learnt a lot from Queensland wicketkeeper Peter Anderson. What did he teach you? 

He had a sharpness and fanaticism over the stumps over everything he practised. Head over your gloves, having the power so you can get the gloves towards the bails quickly. You just practise that for hours so that it feels natural and that's how you do it in a match. We'd probably practise eight hours a week together on all facets of wicketkeeping.

In the Australian team, how did you work together with your slips?

We practised a lot. I'm not sure teams do that enough at the moment, and when they do, they do it really hard - throw it hard, hit the ball really hard at the fielders.

You can actually vary it - short and sharp catches, longer ones that put their hands under a bit of pressure. Or middle-range ones, where you're not only practising catching but the cordon practises decisions, whether to go or not to go.

You've got to get a good feel for the person next to you, as to what they know and feel about you. So Mark Taylor, at first slip, would have a fair knowledge of when I was going to go, so he either backed up or backed off. Those decisions are more important than actual catching practice. That's what you're cementing and reinforcing - your coordination and knowledge between each other. We had a wonderful slips cordon: Taylor, Allan Border, if he needed to go in there, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh at gully, [Shane] Warney snuck in there. So yeah, good catchers.

Does the standard of today's wicketkeeping frustrate you?

Yes, I think so. I don't mind the keepers who are good enough to do the job quite well. I don't mind that they are more known for their batting than their wicketkeeping if they do a job behind the stumps. There aren't too many absolute part-timers in there now. I think we see a few too many of them attempting it in T20, and T20, for me, is the game where you need your best keeper. The wickets don't do too much, so the impact of a brilliant stumping off a medium-pacer, or a class spinner, is huge in T20. So is the impact of a missed dismissal. You pick your best keeper because you don't need another batsman in 20 overs. You can bat the keeper anywhere you like. You don't really need all your batsmen in 20 overs.

Who's the best current international wicketkeeper?

They all have their moments. It's pretty even. Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed seems to cope well with the tricky spinners they've got. I saw the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper, Dinesh Chandimal, in this year's Test at Galle against Australia. He kept unbelievably well to the left-arm chinaman [Lakshan Sandakan], the right-arm offie [Dilruwan Perera] and the left-arm orthodox, [Ranganna] Herath. Chandimal is as good as it gets. Peter Nevill is a very good technician. England are still toing and froing with part-timers.

What about MS Dhoni?

Dhoni has been an unbelievable keeper for India. He should make so many more errors the way he keeps, but he doesn't. He gets the job done.

He doesn't seem to practise very often, but his No. 1 priority is to get the job done. He doesn't care whether he sticks the foot out sometimes and stops it with his pad. As captain, he's got to think about the team, its fortune, and he's got a high level of spin bowler to keep to in difficult conditions. It's a real challenge and I'm amazed how durable he's been, how long he's been able to maintain that position as wicketkeeper, captain and gun batsman.

Did Adam Gilchrist finish off the traditional non-batting keeper as a member of an international side?

Not really, no. I think that Gilly was good enough with the gloves. He was a wicketkeeper and an outstanding batsman. Probably the best batsman in the team and a more-than-adequate wicketkeeper to do the job for Australia. Never sell his gloves anything short of that, because I think he was fine. He wasn't as good in his early years as he could have been. But he got it right towards the end. He doesn't fit into that category of wicketkeeper that's in there because of his batting. He was good enough with the gloves.

Have teams since tried to copy the Gilchrist role, wanting first and foremost a front-line batsman, and if they can keep a bit, that's an advantage?

Maybe, but you're playing with fire there, trying to match Gilchrist's batting. Good luck with that. It's like all the kids who've been bowling legspin over the last 20 years. We've developed maybe one or two, that's it. Players like Gilchrist and Warne are once-in-a-generation players and may be impossible to emulate.

I thought after Gilly what Australia needed was the best wicketkeeper, because our bowlers weren't that good. Our bowlers weren't creating the opportunities that Glenn McGrath and Warne used to. We had to make sure we took every single chance, so we needed a really strong wicketkeeper after Adam. You've got to change what you need when the cycles of your team change.

Does a wicketkeeper's eyesight have to be really good?

I kept in contact lenses. To be a first-class athlete in any sport, you need good eyesight, so yeah, it's probably underrated. A lot of people don't know that they haven't got good eyesight. It's certainly worth checking out.

Did you ever get any vision training? 

No, not really. My optometrist always tried to get me to do some exercises to improve my vision. But she was always disappointed.

Does a wicketkeeper have to be as fit as an outfielder?

Fitter than an outfielder. A wicketkeeper has to be one of the fittest in the team. Batsmen get out and don't have to concentrate any more. A bowler is out of the attack and doesn't have to think about his set skill for a while. But a keeper has to do it day in day out for long periods.

It's a real combination between aerobic fitness, to get through a day, and psychological fitness, so you can concentrate for a whole day. You have to ration out your concentration and switch down a lot.

You have to be confident that your physical fitness is high, so you don't start thinking, "Hell, I've got two and a half hours to go here." That should never enter into your mind. And the days it does, you're in a bit of trouble. You need strength, speed, aerobic fitness, some endurance.

How did you ration your concentration during a long day?

You set the session up in the first 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure you're getting into really good habits. Then it'll look after itself a little bit, so you're not anxious, you're not having to tell yourself all the time to do these things. It just flows much better. Then relax with your team-mates and find some fun out there. Then, before you know it, it's lunch and then, before you know it, it's tea. And then the day is over.

What about taking stumpings? What's the strategy and technique there?

The whole goal of standing up to the stumps is to get your head over your gloves. So when you're catching the ball, you want your eyes right over the top of the gloves - a little bit of cushion in the catch, soft gloves. And then be as quick as you can to get it back and get the bail off. Forget the bat, watch the ball. It's about having the balance to do all that.

Did keeping to Shane Warne make it easier to play him when you were batting?

Not really. What you need when batting against Warne is a good technique. It doesn't matter how fast your feet are if you make a bad decision. You need a solid plan and an array of shots to keep some pressure on him. And then to get away with a risk or two, because most of the run-scoring options on a pitch that's supporting him are risky. Get away with your first few risks and then play a few shots, like a sweep shot, to get off strike; and work with the spin. Then you're a chance, but that's all.

And to keep to him? What's the secret?

You need a real solid set of basics. Stay low, watch the ball and get your head over your gloves. You don't need anything more.

'Standing up to the wicket is what keeping is all about'

Former England keeper Bob Taylor talks about what you need to be world-class behind the stumps

Interview by Scott Oliver in Cricinfo

December 2, 2013

 

	"You've got to try and concentrate until the last ball of the last over has been bowled" © PA Photos  Enlarge

You obviously started in an era long before specialist coaching. Did you ever have a mentor or coach to bounce ideas off?
Not really. I used to talk to George Dawkes, the wicketkeeper at Derbyshire when I started. And I used to learn by talking to other wicketkeepers. If we played Northants, I'd talk to Keith Andrew, whom I idolised; if we played Somerset, I'd talk to Harold Stephenson, and just try and learn by talking to them.

Harold told me: "When you're standing up, try and stand as close as you can, because the closer you are, the less deviation off the bat when the batsman nicks it, the more chance of it hitting your palm rather than the outside of your thumb." Obviously, it still takes a lot of skill. You've got to get your hands outside the line of the ball. But pieces of advice like that - I thought it was wonderful, and it made sense.

One thing that can be difficult when standing up is when a batsman's backlift obscures your view of the ball. How did you cope with that? Did you ever move your feet wider of the stumps? 
Not really, no. In my day, Notts had Basher Hassan and Derek Randall, both of whom, when they picked their bat up, had it right across your line of vision, which, as you say, makes life very difficult. Depending on the height of the bat, you can either look over the top of it or underneath it. I felt that when you look over the top it makes you come up too quick, which can be fatal, so I always used to try to get below the bat, so it kept me down.

What are the other key aspects of good wicketkeeping?
The main things are staying down, anticipation, and above all, concentration. I've read lots and lots of articles and books about wicketkeeping coaching, and not one has mentioned the most important part: concentration. Any successful person, whatever walk of life, the name of the game is consistency: being able to do it day in and day out. They are successful because they are focused, and they concentrate on what they are doing. I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but nobody but me mentions concentration.

That's the hardest part of wicketkeeping. Because when you're playing on the subcontinent - in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka - on those pitches, when you've got a good batsman in front of you, the wicketkeeper becomes almost redundant. You can be keeping for five hours and 55 minutes and not see the ball, then in the last over of the day a world-class batsman - a Sunil Gavaskar or Javed Miandad, say - gives you a chance that, if you don't take it, you can guarantee that the following day they're going to get a hundred in their conditions. That's what wicketkeeping's all about. You've got to try and concentrate until the last ball of the last over has been bowled.

What can you do to instil that concentration?
The only practical way I know of getting the wicketkeeper to concentrate is, every time the batsman plays the ball - and, as I say, on a good wicket, a good batsman will play the ball more often than not - you should, in that split-second when a batsman plays it, imagine the ball comes through to you and actually go through the motions of taking it. Every time. It stands to reason that if you've got into those habits, when the batsman goes out of his crease and misses the ball, you're halfway there. Your hands will be in the right place and you're watching the ball all the time.

When wicketkeepers miss stumpings, the two mistakes they make are they get up too soon, so their arms and hands come above their waist, and they anticipate that the batsman is going to hit the ball, and are looking to where they think he's going to hit it. The only way I know to correct that is, when you come up from the crouch position and straighten your knees, keep your hands below your knees so if the ball keeps low you can take it, and if it bounces you can come up in the air with it.

I notice you're already talking about keeping as if it was solely a question of standing up to the stumps.
Standing up to the wicket is what keeping is all about. At first-class level, any competent catcher - a decent slip fielder - can put the gloves on, like Marcus Trescothick, or Graeme Fowler and Graham Gooch when I was playing. They can all keep wicket to a degree. But up to the stumps sorts the men out from the boys. That's where you can see a true wicketkeeper.

	"The only practical way I know of getting the wicketkeeper to concentrate is, every time the batsman plays the ball - you should, in that split second, imagine the ball comes through to you and actually go through the motions of taking it"

You mentioned keeping on flat Asian pitches. Is that a bigger challenge than standing up on a green top in England? 
It's a difficult one. It's about the movement, which you want because it actually helps you concentrate. I said to Ian Healy, who was a terrific keeper, that keeping wicket to Shane Warne must have been a fabulous experience and I'd have loved to have done it. I said to him that it takes ability to keep to someone like Shane Warne, someone who's turning the ball a lot, because you're expecting it to come to you all the time. But to me that's easier than keeping on the subcontinent on flat wickets against top batsmen, when you're almost redundant.

You wouldn't have kept to much mystery spin.
No, but I did keep to Derek Underwood. He was a great bowler.

The most difficult bowler you kept to? 
People often ask me that question. For me, it wasn't anybody in particular. It was when you were standing up to a right-arm over - someone who was normally an away-swing bowler to a right-hander - bowling to a left-handed batsman. It's more natural to go down the leg side to a right-hander, for the simple reason that there are more of them in any team. You get used to it. It becomes natural. So, even though a ball down the leg side to a left-hander means I'm going to my stronger hand, my writing hand, it's still more difficult, less natural. You don't do it as often. It's about your foot movement, not which is your strong hand. I saw Ian Healy stump Mark Butcher down the leg side off Shane Warne. They might have rehearsed it, I don't know, but it still takes some doing.

So you recommend practising that then?
The message I try to get over to boys is that at nets they should try to practise more against left-handers than right-handers, because that helps to build up confidence. And when you're at the top of your game, you enjoy that challenge. It's an opportunity for a stumping. And if you're predominantly right-handed, before the match starts, take ten catches into both hands, diving and what-have-you, then ten into your right hand, then 20 in your left. So that gives you confidence with your weak hand, to take that half-chance when it comes.

It was a bit unfortunate for you that you had Alan Knott around for much of your career, until World Series Cricket came along, really. Was it difficult being a permanent understudy? 
I'd always got confidence in my ability; it's just that there was someone else who was better than me. His batting record speaks for itself. You have to be philosophical about things.

Did you and he discuss the finer points of wicketkeeping, or was there too much rivalry for that?
We did do, and we have done subsequently. Not that we always agreed. I used to coach Jack Russell, Paul Nixon and people like this at Lilleshall, while Knotty coached Alec Stewart down at Lord's. Then Knotty became more full-time with England and I think that's when Jack started to get all his idiosyncrasies. Whether they were standing up or back, Jack and Alec were facing cover for a period, but at the last second they were turning to be square-on. I asked Jack, Alec, and eventually Knotty what the theory was behind this, and he said that, if you're standing up, particularly if the ball bounced, your hips were out of the way.

I said to Knotty, "Well, if the ball bounces, it's an automatic reaction for your hips to turn, anyway. They've got to try and take the ball. I can see where you're coming from, but doesn't it make it harder for a normal wicketkeeper - not a Test wicketkeeper, who's got ability, or a county keeper even - to take the ball down the leg side?" He'd have to over-correct his position. There was no automatic explanation, so I thought it's just a theory that's being passed on. I said to Alec Stewart, "You stand open, but to take the ball you correct your position. Why do it in the first place?" He said: "Because Knotty told me."

	"Next to the captain, the wicketkeeper is the second most important player on the field. You're the inspiration to the rest of the fielders" © PA Photos  Enlarge

What about taking the ball in front of the stumps and knocking the bails off on the back-sweep of the hands?
It's all well and good - I used to do that years ago - but you're very reliant on accurate throws from the outfield, otherwise you can lose where the stumps are.

And why do wicketkeepers take the ball like a matador with his cape, taking their body away from the ball? It's all come from Australia. They take the ball away from the body. I've talked to Rod Marsh, I've talked to Ian Healy, I've talked to Adam Gilchrist, and I can't get a straightforward answer. I've spoken to Bruce French - who's teaching the theory as well - and he can't give me a proper answer, other than: "It inspires the rest of the fielders." I'm sorry, I don't understand.

I coached Frenchy when he started at Nottingham. I said, "Bruce, we've always been taught - particularly standing back - that you get your body behind the line of the ball, so you've got a second line of defence. It encourages you to move your feet". Particularly in this country, where the ball will dip and swerve after it goes past the bat - that's all the more reason why you have to get your body behind the line of the ball.

Which keepers of your era did you rate? 
Outside of me and Knotty, Paul Downton, David Bairstow, Jack Richards and Roger Tolchard were all good keepers.

And of recent times?
I think Dhoni's been fantastic. He's a superstar in India, a multi-millionaire, but to captain, to keep wicket, and bat - it's phenomenal.

I think the best English keepers over the last ten years have undoubtedly been James Foster and Chris Read. Duncan Fletcher did a lot of good for English cricket, I'm sure, but he had his favourites, and I think Geraint Jones was probably one of his favourites. The only thing I can think of [why Read didn't play more] is that he wasn't a good tourist. He was playing second fiddle to Alec Stewart, and I've had enough experience of that.

You've got to be philosophical, and when you're playing against New South Wales or Queensland, you've got to try your best. If I played well then it would push Alan Knott, keep him on his toes, which is the objective of a reserve, and only benefits the team. You've got to do your best - both on and off the field. As 12th man, in a hot climate, you've got to make sure players who are flogging themselves in 90 degrees of heat and 80% humidity are looked after. I don't know, but perhaps Chris Read wasn't doing his duties properly and it upset Duncan Fletcher - I don't know. But he was never really given a chance. And the same with James Foster. And they are both, I think, the top wicketkeepers - and that's in front of Matt Prior, Steven Davies, Craig Keiswetter, whoever.

And finally, your nickname was "Chat", so what about the keeper as the voice on the field? 
I say to schoolboys: if you want to improve, forget about all this sledging. If you're concentrating on sledging the batsmen, then you're not concentrating on the job you're supposed to be doing. Next to the captain, the wicketkeeper is the second most important player on the field. You're the inspiration to the rest of the fielders. You have to be neat and tidy to set the tone. That's what a wicketkeeper should be concentrating on. That and concentration.