Cricket: Top Ten Fielders

In Cricket, fielding is a very important thing. A run saved is a run scored and a catch missed means a match is lost. Specially, these days, fielders can contribute a lot in helping a team to win. When it comes to fielding South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia are good while India and Pakistani players are terrible in fielding. Here, I have made a list of ten of the greatest fielders. Some of them do not play anymore but they charmed the fans with their catches and run outs.

Ricky Ponting:

Ricky Ponting is one of the best batsmen in the history of world cricket. This talented batsman is now the captain of world champion Australia. As a captain he won the last world cup for Australia in 2003 in South Africa. With his batting skill he also serves his team as an excellent fielder. He is very speedy in running and his accuracy is something special in his cricketing career. He is also specialist in catching. Statistics shows that he has more than 100 catches in both Test and ODI cricket. He has 123 and 114 catches in Test and ODI cricket respectively and in both types of cricket he stands in the top ten list in terms of catching record.

Jonty Rhodes:

Jonty Rhodes is the cricketer who made people recognize fielding as an art and he is the greatest artist in this art. He is undoubtedly the one of the best fielder in the history of cricket. In the field his acrobatic movement was something unbelievable and real entertainment for the spectators. His could serve his team through his diving power, catching power and above all throwing capabilities which, for sure, save many runs for his team. Jonty is the only player who has 5 catches in a ODI match. Though he got chance in the team as a Batsman, he soon became familiar with his trademark diving and extraordinary fielding capacity.

Besides, his batting record is also very good but his batting career could not come into limelight because of his fielding performance. He has over seven thousand runs in ODI cricket and over five thousand runs in test cricket. Rhodes has 105 catches in his ODI career and he also bagged 34 catches playing just 55 test matches. He ahs made many picturesque performances in which Inzamam ul-Haq’s run out in 1992 world cup is special and it deserves to be included in the golden history of cricket as one of the best pictures ever seen in the cricket field. I am quoting some lines regarding that run out from southafrica.info:

Swooping onto a ball from his position at backward point, Rhodes raced ul-Haq, who had ventured down the pitch, to the crease, beating him, with his right arm holding the ball and extended like Superman, with a dive that knocked all three stumps out of the ground. The pictures were shown around the world and a legend was born.

Image Link: southafrica,info/ess

Regarding this talented cricketer, cricinfo says:

Rhodes worked harder than anyone else in a team of hard workers, frequently delaying the team bus at the end of practice for one more round of reflex catches hit from ten metres or less. Nobody has ever fielded better in the key one-day position of backward point, where he leapt like a salmon, threw off balance, and stopped singles by reputation alone.

Jonty Rhodes has been another name of fielding and I ma sure his name will be remembered till the game cricket remains alive.


Mohammad Azharuddin:

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin is also known as a skilled fielder besides his talented batting. He is best known for his accuracy and catching capability in the sleep position. Though it is true that he more famous and one of the best batsmen in the history of cricket, he still holds the record of having highest number of catch in ODI career. In ODI cricket Azharuddin bagged 156 catches and in test cricket 105 catches which also stands in the top ten list of most catches taker in test cricket. His batting performance especially in the ODI cricket deserves him to be included in the list of legendary batsmen. He has over nine thousand runs in ODI cricket and over six thousand runs in test cricket. He could his wrist extraordinarily while playing in the leg side which is a rarely seen among the batsmen.

Stephen Fleming:

Best known as his outstanding captaincy and his consistent batting performance, Stephen Fleming is also known as a very good fielder. His catching record can well prove his fielding capability. He is in the third position in terms of highest catch holder in test cricket and in fourth position in the list of highest number of catch holder in ODI cricket. This talented fielder already has taken 159 catches in test cricket and 119 catches in ODI cricket. Fleming has over six thousand test and seven thousand ODI runs. Fleming is one of those five players who have 5 catches in an innings in test match and also one of those five cricketers in the history who could take 7 catches in a test match.

Allan Border:

Allan Border is the legendary batsman in test cricket. He is the first player to reach at the landmark of 11000 runs in the history of test cricket. He has over six thousand runs in ODI cricket. However, as a fielder he was also very successful. His 127 catches in ODI cricket is just second to Mohammad Azharuddin’s 156 catches. He has 156 catches in Test cricket which is fifth highest in the list of highest catching holder.

Mark Taylor:

Mark Taylor is the former captain and opening batsman of Australian cricket team. He was very popular as a captain and also very successful. As a batsman he has more than seven thousand test runs and more than three thousand ODI runs in his career. Besides, he was also an outstanding fielder in the slip position. His 157 catches in test cricket was a record for that time and it is still the fourth highest catching performance. He also has 56 ODI catches.


Ian Botham:

Botham was former England captain and one of the best all-rounders in the history of cricket. He has over five thousand test runs with 383 wickets and over two thousands ODI runs with 145 wickets. Statistics can not prove his dominant role in his time in the cricket world. Besides his batting and bowling performance he is also known as a good fielder too. He got 120 catches in test cricket playing just 102 test matches. He also has 36 catches in ODI cricket.

Carl Hooper:

Carl Hooper was the former captain of West Indies cricket team. He has over five thousand runs in both test and ODI cricket. With his right-arm offbreak bowling was also very effective for his team. He has 193 wickets in ODI cricket and has 114 wickets in Test cricket. However, as a fielder he also served his team very well. He got 120 catches in ODI cricket which is third highest in the list of highest catching holder. He also has 115 catches in test crickets.

Brian Lara:

Brian Lara is a name has already been included in the history of cricket as most successful batsmen. ‘The Prince of Port-of-Spain’ nicknamed this benevolent figure of cricket is the highest run scorer n test cricket with his 11953 runs. He also scored more than ten thousand runs in ODI cricket. Lara is now the captain of the team and doing his job very well. Besides, he is also an excellent fielder. He has more than 100 catches in both types of cricket. His 164 wicket is the second highest catching record in Test cricket. He also has 114 catches in ODI cricket.

Mahela Jayawardene:

Mahela Jayawardene is a talented batsman and now the captain of Sri Lankan cricket team. He has over six thousand runs in both test and ODI cricket. This batting icon of Sri Lanka is also a very successful fielder in both test cricket and ODI cricket. He has more than 100 catches in both test and ODI cricket. He is known as a very good slip fielder. This benevolent figure of Sri Lankan cricket has already got 114 wickets in ODI cricket and 113 wickets in Test cricket. His 114 wickets in ODI cricket is the fifth highest catching record.

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