Fielding (cricket) - Restrictions On Field Placement

Restrictions On Field Placement

Fielders may be placed anywhere on the field, subject to the following rules. At the time the ball is bowled:

• No fielder may be standing on or with any part of his body over the pitch (the central strip of the playing area between the wickets). If his body casts a shadow over the pitch the shadow must not move until after the batsman has played (or had the opportunity to play) at the ball.
• There may be no more than two fielders, other than possibly the wicket-keeper, standing in the quadrant of the field behind square leg. See Bodyline for details on one reason this rule exists.
• In some one-day matches:
  • During designated overs of an innings (see Powerplay (cricket)), there may be no more than two fielders standing outside an oval line marked on the field, being semicircles centred on the middle stump of each wicket of radius 30 yards, joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch. This is known as the fielding circle. In addition, during these overs there must be two fielders (other than the wicket-keeper) in designated "close catching" positions.
  • For the remainder of the innings there may be no more than five fielders standing outside the fielding circle.
  • In addition no fielder may stand behind directly behind the wicketkeeper. Fielders may be placed anywhere on the field other than the pitch or behind the wicketkeeper.

The restriction for one-day cricket is designed to prevent the fielding team from setting extremely defensive fields and concentrating solely on preventing the batting team from scoring runs.

If any of these rules is violated, an umpire will call the delivery a no ball. Additionally a player may not make any significant movement after the ball comes into play and before the ball reaches the striker. If this happens, an umpire will call and signal 'dead ball'. For close fielders anything other than minor adjustments to stance or position in relation to the striker is significant. In the outfield, fielders may move in towards the striker or striker's wicket; indeed, they usually do. However, anything other than slight movement off line or away from the striker is to be considered significant.