Mike Young and what Jonty knew.
I was amused to read an article by Mike Young, Australia's fielding coach since 2000, titled "Taking Australia to the next level". He says that fielders used to waste energy by walking in too many paces, while walking with the bowler, and that their feet weren't in the right position when the ball was bowled. He claims to have invented the "split step" where fielders' feet were a little apart and not one foot slightly in front of the other - ready to move quickly to the left or the right. Then he claims that "now everybody is doing it".
The "split step" is a position taken, for example, when tennis players are about to receive a serve. balancing on the balls of their feet, leaning towards the server, and they give a little hop to ready themselves to move rapidly to the left or right or even forward. Now I have to remind you that both Jonty Rhodes and Hershell Gibbs have both been fielding like that since school days. Jonty was fielding like that in the 1992 World Cup in Australia - eight years before Young "invented" it.
Also, when Jonty coaches in fielding, he talks about how important the "walk in" is. The batsman cannot be fully aware where every fielder will be when he receives the ball. Every front-of-the-wicket fielder can vary his position by walking in either slowly or quickly, or a few steps or many, or even walking in the direction of the centre of the pitch as opposed to walking in the the batter. Every variation places him in a different position for every ball. It's not a waste of energy, it's part of the game.
I was amused to read an article by Mike Young, Australia's fielding coach since 2000, titled "Taking Australia to the next level". He says that fielders used to waste energy by walking in too many paces, while walking with the bowler, and that their feet weren't in the right position when the ball was bowled. He claims to have invented the "split step" where fielders' feet were a little apart and not one foot slightly in front of the other - ready to move quickly to the left or the right. Then he claims that "now everybody is doing it".
The "split step" is a position taken, for example, when tennis players are about to receive a serve. balancing on the balls of their feet, leaning towards the server, and they give a little hop to ready themselves to move rapidly to the left or right or even forward. Now I have to remind you that both Jonty Rhodes and Hershell Gibbs have both been fielding like that since school days. Jonty was fielding like that in the 1992 World Cup in Australia - eight years before Young "invented" it.
Also, when Jonty coaches in fielding, he talks about how important the "walk in" is. The batsman cannot be fully aware where every fielder will be when he receives the ball. Every front-of-the-wicket fielder can vary his position by walking in either slowly or quickly, or a few steps or many, or even walking in the direction of the centre of the pitch as opposed to walking in the the batter. Every variation places him in a different position for every ball. It's not a waste of energy, it's part of the game.
