I don't want the game to become a squad merry go round with 'designated fielders' etc
There can be at least 1, who can be brought on at strategic times, where the slip fielders are relocated, and you need some men in the outfield. For instance, VVS Laxman is a good slip-fielder (not counting drops) but a weak link on the outfield, and he bats later in the order, so it might be a good idea to replace him with, say, Sodhi, for a few minutes. But not as far as replacing Laxman with Sodhi, Tendulkar with Kaif and Ganguly with Yuvraj and making it a true merry-go-round.
A list of players worth swapping-
- Lead fast bowlers who need to be used in short spells (helps prevent injuries)
- Spinners to be introduced late- real late
- Anyone who's carrying an injury (they should not even be picked!)
- Weaker links on the field (at least 1)
stop all these recent 10 v 11 Tests when bowlers have been injured - could even be expanded to include situations like occured on a NZ tour to India (I think), ehrn even Brian Waddle was on the field because so many of the players were out with food poisoning or something!!!!!
That was during a time when just about anyone and everyone could get on the field as a substitute- in that incident, they had team managers, journalists, even drivers and hotel cooks on the field!
Even in the recently concluded India/NZ Test series, the NZ team had not 11, but 12 players on the field.
in Nehra's next fielding practice session (does he practice?) you have 2 other players involved - one with the bat and ball and a keeper by the stumps.
Now the ball is hit by the batsman to Nehra's vicinity. He has to field cleanly, pick the ball up and throw it back on the run to the keeper. Now here's the rub - he has to do it 10 times on the trot before he can leave the field. He'll soon improve his ground fielding.
I hope so, but if he does, the way he fields, the whole practice serves no purpose!
Anyway, this is a good plan (worth forwarding to the Indian and English team management groups), but it has to be done on a regular basis. Even the physio and fitness trainer have a role to play, since fielding requires top fitness.