5 incredible fielders to grace cricket

1. Jonty Rhodes:

Perhaps the notion that fielding is an art and a beautiful skill came from Jonty Rhodes. He was the one who changed the perception of fielding. The best fielder in cricket ever, he acrobatic movements were a delight to watch, and even looked unrealistic at times! Single handedly, with his fielding he could turn the match in the team’s favour and his diving and catching forces were one to be awed with. Speaking of his throwing abilities, they were second to none, and it saved many runs for the team. In fact Jonty has the record of being the only player yet who has taken five catches in an ODI match. It seemed Jonty was chosen in the team for his fielding itself, though originally he got chosen as a batsman. Jonty Rhodes, has through the decades, been known for his extraordinary diving and catching abilities which set him miles apart from the rest.

In fact, southafrica.info has this to say about Johnty Rhodes:

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.

2. Ricky Ponting

No matter where on the field, this man always has the capacity to surprise you. His speed, dedication and focus makes him pull off the most spectacular of catches, and even unbelievable dives at all angles. He has changed the outcome of the game many-a-times on his own. A truly great fielder, he has extreme agility and hands which never slips a ball even in the slips. With Ricky Ponting and Jonty Rhodes in their prime together, the world witnessed the greatest of fielding for quite some time. Ricky Ponting is also one of the greatest batsmen to have ever graced the game of cricket and is sometimes even compared to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar. He is one of the few guys who has not stopped to praise his opponents when they deserved one. Here is a quote from him:

We expect Sri Lanka to be a very tough contest. I think they’ll be our toughest contest to date in this tournament. They’re a good One-day side. But in saying that I think they rely on a few, certainly on the batting side of things. If you look at Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene as the three that they rely on the most, they all had a pretty good start to the tournament.

— Ricky Ponting about Sri Lanka ahead of their group stage match / February 26, 2011

3. AB de Villiers

He is one of the best fielders of the present era. One of the most cool things in making South Africans good at fielding is perhaps that they practice lots of Rugby, which enhances their diving and sliding abilities. The South Africans are generally flexible in fielding and same goes for Ab DE Villers. One of the most flexible person around, he can dive just about anywhere managing to pull off near impossible catches. He is an equally good wicket keeper, his agility a treat to watch. Also a great batsman, he is a person to look out for! He is one of the most dedicated guys in the cricket team too and well-respected.

Here is a quote which he said which displays his compettitiveness after becoming the captain of the South African ODI and T20 teams on June 06, 2011:

There is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders and I am really looking forward to it. I am obviously very excited and ready to learn. I am really looking forward to this whole challenge. I will work closely with Hashim and the coach. I have been through some ups and downs in my career and I am ready to take on anything.

4. Yuvraj Singh

Though perhaps many others like Herschelle Gibbs and Paul Collingwood deserved a place in the Top 5, it is Yuvraj Singh who I believes is the suitable one for number 4. Once upon a time referred to as a party boy, he has the most amazing of reflexes and pulls out the most spectacular of catches out of nowhere. His only concern is his lack of fitness yet this ‘backward point’ fielder has many strengths which catapults him to this position. One of these is that he is one of the most prolific batsman who also scores a lot of runs for the team. Batting 2-30 over each match and then running around the field for 50 overs is no mean job and he does his fielding quite well. The batsmen are just stumped by his catching a ball out of the blue when they expect it to go for a four or a six. Yuvraj has taken some of the best catches ever and sure has more to add to his credit. Yuvraj Singh has always been emotional on-field and has been known to vent his emotions far too often. Here I give a recent quote which he said after India defeated Australia in 2011 World Cup Quarter finals:

The emotions, I really can’t explain them, because it was tough out there. From last year I have been dreaming of playing Australia in a crucial game. I don’t know why Australia; probably because they are three-time world champions. I had been thinking about this moment for the last 365 days and it actually came true. I just believed in myself, I envisioned that moment from time to time: me staying there till the end and hitting the winning runs for India. So it is a very emotional moment for me.

5. Ian Botham

It was really difficult to choose the last person of the top 5. The modern era has quite a few fielders who can take the game away with their fielding. Be it Kevin Pieterson or Andrew Symonds or even Brian Lara, they have been outstanding in the fielding department. But I found that as a whole the package of fielding, bowling and batting was fulfilled by Ian Botham. Botham was a former England Captain who is also regarded as one of the best all round cricketers and one of the best fielders. He has his hold on all three areas of the game, i.e. batting, fielding and bowling. In batting he has over five thousand test runs and two thousand ODI runs. In bowling he has 383 wickets in tests and 145 wickets in ODI’s. As far as the fielding is concerned, he is surely one of the best, with his agility and passion well known. He has in fielding taken 120 catches in test cricket and 36 catches in ODI’s.

A praise from Ian Botham was thought to be golden, as when he did praise, he really meant it. Here is a word which he had for the great Ricky Ponting and the Australian team:

The way they play, their doggedness, they’re tough, they get stuck in and once they’re in you, need dynamite to remove them. Ricky Ponting is a fantastic player. He’s one of those guys you really enjoy watching. He can play all the shots, but you know he’s not going to

give anything away. He was in total control.