There are various fielding positions” strategically placed to stop any hit in any direction. These positions include the “infield” positions, which are close to the batsman, the “midfield” positions, located halfway to the field boundary, and the “outfield” positions near the fence. The chart below shows where these positions are located on the field and what they’re called. However, there are far too many positions listed in this chart – 0 or more! As you may know, a cricket team consists of 11 players; hence it is impossible for nine fielders (excluding the current pitcher and catcher/wicket-keeper) to cover all thirty positions. Therefore, which ones should be covered?
Typically, cricket employs pitching or bowling specialists. These are pitchers who specialize in throwing fast, medium, or slow pitches or in certain kinds of breaks” or in-the-air movement. The reason for this is that cricket’s gameplay differs from baseball. In baseball, it is acceptable to have one pitcher throw many types of pitches since batters can only hit into a quadrant ahead of them to score. Additionally, fielders can be positioned to cut off most line drives, making it necessary to hit over the fielders’ heads for any kind of scoring.
In cricket, specialist pitchers are a big help because they can estimate where the batter is likely to hit a certain kind of pitch and position fielders accordingly. Essentially, when you choose a specialist pitcher, you also select the type of pitching that will be delivered and set up your field of 9 to cover potential hits. For instance, 100-mph fastballs are unlikely to be hit back past the pitcher while it’s difficult to pull sliders around to your left. Curve balls, on the other hand, tend to end up in the left outfield. Do you understand? Here are some examples of how this strategy might work.
In both cases, we assume that the batter is right-handed. The chart above shows an attacking field for a fastball bowler who has a good curveball and can also cut the ball in” to the batter off the bounce, i.e., throw “off-breaks”. The “yellow zone” indicates where fast curveballs breaking in on the bounce are most likely to be hit. Therefore, it’s necessary to protect certain parts of the field. The idea is that most right-handed batters would deflect curve-ball and off-cutter pitches coming into them towards their off-side or angle their drives towards their on-side, shifting their hits as shown.
You can easily see the attacking nature of the field by comparing the number of infield” and “midfield” positions to those in the “outfield”! In case the batter is able to hit off-cutting fastballs, position shifts are shown for a few key positions, which would lead to a more defensive formation. The second chart, displayed above, is for a different type of pitcher (bowler) who throws at a slow-medium pace, has an excellent slider and also breaks the ball across and away from the batter on the bounce (i.e., leg-breaks).
The yellow zone” is shifted in the opposite direction from the previous example. This is because pitches that are going away from the batter are more likely to be deflected behind him towards his leg-side or hit into his off-side, which is towards his right in the case of a right-handed batter. As you can see, there are comparatively fewer infielders and more outfielders than in the first example. This is because slow-medium pitchers are expected to be hit harder and further than fastball pitchers. Therefore, the fielding formation also looks completely different due to the different “yellow zone.”
The biggest difference between cricket and baseball is that baseball is a pitcher’s game, while cricket is a batter’s (batsman’s) game. Both sports consist of a series of one-on-one duels between a batter and a pitcher/bowler who is supported by a set of fielders. The succession of these “duels” forms the core of both games, with final scores representing the cumulative outcome.
In baseball, the pitcher is challenged to a series of duels by batters. Each duel can last between 3 to 10 pitches and there are 27 or more one-on-one duels between a single pitcher and nine opposing batters. Each batter gets three or more chances at-bat, or duels”, to score during the course of the game. The starting pitcher is only relieved if he is tired and needs a relief pitcher to close out the game or if he has been scored against too often in the beginning.
In cricket, the batter takes center stage and is challenged by a series of bowlers, not pitchers. An individual batter who is doing well could face 20, 50 or even over 100 pitches. Unlike baseball where batters take turns in challenging a single pitcher, in cricket, four or more bowlers take turns to try to get him out. In fact, five, six or even seven bowlers are used during one cricket inning.
To understand baseball better, it’s best to start with the pitcher and then look at the field placement. A baseball batter must deal with them both. If the pitcher and fielders are consistent, there simply won’t be any hits. Only if a batter can break through or get the pitcher and fielders to commit errors will there be any scoring.
To understand cricket strategy, it is important to start with the batter. Consider all that they can do, and then look at Fielding and Pitching/Bowling as ways to limit the batter’s abilities. If the Pitching/Bowling and Fielding strategies work effectively, batters can be held to low or zero scores. However, if these strategies do not work, batters can score as much as they like and potentially win the game.
During a cricket match (game), you will see different kinds of batters come up to bat. Each batter is tested with different pitching styles and fielding formations. For a complete cricket inning, the batting team can send up 11 batters. Batters 1 and 2 are called “opening batsmen”. Similar to “lead-off batters” in baseball, their role is to be consistent rather than necessarily score big runs.
In cricket, the batters who can stay on base for 30 minutes or more have done their job. Batters 3, 4, and 5 are expected to be consistent and high-scoring as they are usually the best batters in the team, similar to “clean-up hitters” in baseball. On the other hand, batters 6, 7 and 8 are considered as the “power hitters” who may not stay too long on base but can score quickly. Finally, batters 9, 10 and 11 are known as “tailenders”, meaning that they are in the team for other things than batting such as pitching (bowling) or catching (wicket-keeping).
Although they may be able to bat, the players on the team are usually not selected for that reason. When facing a batting line-up like this, the opposing team’s two starting pitchers will typically be their fastball specialists. These pitchers can make the ball move through the air with maximum speed and are also most likely to get past the steady defenses of the opening batsmen” (as mentioned above).
As the ball loses its shine and grips the ground better, slower pitchers/bowlers who use breaks” off the ground as their primary strategy are brought in to pitch. Their greater ability to use cutters and breaks is supposed to work better against the more aggressive top and mid-order batters. The fast-ball specialists may be brought back (which is allowed in cricket, though not in baseball) to finish up the tail-end batting. If the starting pitchers/bowlers succeed in getting the top-order batters out for low scores, “relief” pitchers/bowlers might use “attacking” field formations to restrict the score even more and get more batters “out.”
On the other hand, if the opening batsmen have done their job and the top-order batters are in good form, the relief pitching or bowling will use more defensive fielding to keep down the runs and perhaps get the batters out by making them over-confident. A good team will have one or two extra pitchers or bowlers to provide this kind of variety, change of pace, or added relief. A team with 5 or 6 pitchers/bowlers is exceptionally strong on the field.
Cricket is an interesting game due to the interplay between batters and pitchers/bowlers. Since there are many different kinds of batters and pitchers, this interaction can shift with every out” and every dozen runs. This constant change in strategy keeps cricket exciting for those who understand the game.
The strategy of cricket is influenced by time limits, which are common in modern cricket. When the batting team has a fixed amount of time to complete their inning, they must score as many runs as possible within the assigned time limit. Although 10 outs are allowed, it becomes less important than the runs that go up on the scoreboard. It’s important to note that overs, not minutes, are used to set time limits and count progress in cricket matches. Overs” refer to sets of six pitches each delivered alternately from one wicket to another. Therefore, innings are limited by overs rather than minutes on the clock.
When it comes to cricket, the number of overs determines the time limit for each team. For example, a thirty-over limit allows 90 minutes, while a 40-over limit gives a maximum of 2 hours. A 50-over limit provides the batting team with approximately 2-1/2 hours to score. The scoring rate refers to the number of runs per over achieved by the batting team. If the rate is two runs or less per over, this indicates that pitching and fielding are dominating play. An average scoring rate falls between two and four runs per over. However, if batters are achieving five or six runs per over, they are on a roll!
Let’s consider a scenario where we have a 40-over cricket game with each team allowed about two hours or ten outs to complete their batting.
After the coin toss between the opposing captains to decide who bats first, the team that wins the toss has the opportunity to choose whether they want to bat or bowl first. The team batting first has the responsibility of scoring as many runs as possible within two hours or until ten of its batters are out, whichever comes first. The captain or coach of the batting team will set a target score in their mind, such as a halfway mark like one hour (20 overs) of batting. A typical strategy for this team would be to try and reach this point without losing too many wickets, ideally no more than 2 or 3 while also achieving a decent score like 50 or 60 runs. For instance, if their score is 60 for three wickets lost.
The team has 7 outs in hand and another 20 overs (about one hour) left. With so much batting to come, they will try to increase their scoring rate from the current 3 runs per over to 5 or 6 runs per over. This means that the batters will take more risks and attempt bigger hits, regardless of outs,” in order to end up with a total score of around 160 to 200 runs. If the first-half score had been lower, say, at 40 for three outs, then the team would have to try even harder with a target of achieving six or even seven runs per over in order to come up with a respectable total.
Suppose the score was 60, but there were 5 outs”. With the top of the batting order already out, the remaining batters would have to play more defensively to stay in and add to the total.
Now, let’s imagine that the first team has already batted and scored 170 runs in its forty overs. As their opponents go in to bat, they know they need to score 171 in their forty overs to win the game. This amounts to a scoring rate of at least 4.3 runs per over.
The second team needs to reach its halfway mark with a scoring rate of at least 3 runs per over, which is equivalent to 60 runs, in order to have a good chance of winning. To achieve this, the team aims to score between 70 and 80 runs with no more than three outs by the halfway point. If they manage to score 80 runs, they will only need an additional 91 runs in the remaining 20 overs with seven outs left. This means they will need a scoring rate of approximately 4.5 runs per over, which is only slightly higher than their current pace of four runs per over. Maintaining this pace should be enough for them to secure a victory. However, if they have too few runs or too many outs left, the remaining batters will have to adjust their approach accordingly by batting faster or being more defensive while still maintaining the required scoring rate.
If the second team successfully chases the target, they win the match. This is just one example of a batting strategy that has time limits. Some teams prefer to reverse this approach by scoring quickly in the first half of their allotted overs and then slowing down in the second half. Teams batting second often favor this method because it makes it easier for them to score runs in the latter half of their innings. The early high scoring provides a cushion for lower-order batsmen to relax and score runs without pressure.
