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a bonafide great and a mediocre fielder...

bagapath

International Captain
I was watching an old game on tv and remembered how loose-limbed and energetic kapil dev remained for most of his career anywhere on the field. even though his pace and swing deserted him towards the end and his batting became more reckless than adventurous, his fielding skills never waned significantly. he was taking tough catches in slips, mid off and square leg 99 out of 100 times. his ground fielding was solid and, from the deep, he had a strong, accurate throw that the keeper could confidently expect to finish inches above the stumps.

good fielding seems to be a trait all great cricketers possessed. cricket being a side-on game in all departments, as bedi said, mastering either batting or bowling kind of gives you the confidence to be good at fielding I guess. even bradman and hobbs, not known to be great catchers, were excellent in point and cover, respectively, according to some accounts.

hammond was a champion in the slips; sobers, everywhere. gavaskar, the chappells and lara were among the best catchers of their eras. so are dravid, kallis and ponting. even among bowlers, trueman, warne and benaud were excellent catchers. joel garner was equally intimidating at gully as he was across the wicket. sachin, gower, murali and pollock were/are good fielders even if they didnt have the jonty rhodes touch all the time.

this seems to be true for all great cricketers except in the case of imran khan; the great khan who mastered every aspect of pace bowling to become an all time great and who worked very hard on his batting and converted himself into a mainstay of his team's middle order remained a mediocre fielder at best. what i remember of him at mid-on from his skippering days are some spilled chances, misfields and throws to the wrong end. he was, obviously, not downright crap but calling his fielding just unreliable is being polite. i nominate him to lead the dream xi of bonafide greats but mediocre fielders.

are there other greats of the game who sucked at fielding?
 
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Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Inzamam Ul Haq is the first player comes to mind, Anil Kumble was a poor fielder too.
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
Inzamam Ul Haq is the first player comes to mind, Anil Kumble was a poor fielder too.
Inzi was safe as a house in slips. Mo Yo and Zaheer would be more apt but its another debate whether they can be classed great or not.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Courtney Walsh was ordinary at best. Used to bowl the ball in from the boundary becuase his throwing arm was so pish.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Yeah it would be surprising if some massive, black, fast bowler had a poor arm when he was younger.
Not sure whether a massive, well-built fast bowler is any more or less likely to have a good arm whether his skin is black or any other colour TBH, but as-a-rule, quality quick bowlers have fine arms. Exceptions are very rare, in fact I can't OTTOMH think of any.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Not sure whether a massive, well-built fast bowler is any more or less likely to have a good arm whether his skin is black or any other colour TBH, but as-a-rule, quality quick bowlers have fine arms. Exceptions are very rare, in fact I can't OTTOMH think of any.
Yes. Phoenixfire in racist **** shocker. :ph34r:
 

PhoenixFire

International Coach
Haha, well just generally you'll find that black people (take a look at the 100m sprinters in the Olympics, for instance) tend to be more well built and muscular than white people. Big generalisation, but that alludes to having stronger arms, no?
 

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