Choosing your short leg is as crucial as deciding on who fields at 1st slip or point.
Get it right and you will win your side a couple of wickets for free.
Because short leg is the most attacking fielding position available, it is the most important fielding decision to make.
There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity; and to field at short leg you need a bit of both.
The availability of leg guards and a helmet are of little consolation as your off spinner drags down on a delivery that can be regarded as the first course of an A La Carte menu.
Unlike the majority of fielding positions, the batsman can be caught at short leg without making a mistake; like an edge, mistimed shot or general loss of concentration.
It only takes one spitting delivery to find the glove and pop up a catch to short leg. So placing someone there who doesn’t flinch or duck away at the slightest movement from the batsman is crucial.
Personally I think that the best short legs are batsman because an element of batting technique helps a short leg.
Most short legs in the professional game are middle order batsman who themselves have immaculate technique; Ian Bell being the obvious example of this.
In my experience as a short leg your first sign that a chance is coming your way has nothing to do with the delivery and everything to do with analysing the batsman’s technique.
The early signs come from the batsman’s hands and feet, and having the technical ability to recognise these in a spilt second dramatically increase the chances of a catch being held.
The ability to recognise a front foot or back foot shot early help the short leg anticipate the type of catch coming.
Defensive shots will be slow loopy chances and attacking shots will come hard and flat.
Identifying whether the batsman is going for a defensive or attacking shot allows you to position your hands correctly in anticipation.
Defensive shots are catchable with two hands as they offer more time to see the ball due to their soft connection.
So look to position your hands almost together and in front of your eyes.
Catches from attacking shots will in most cases come hard and flat; resulting in much less reaction time and consequently are often only catchable one handed.
In which case, look to position your hands shoulder width apart in order to cover a bigger area of reach as quickly as possible.
But more important than technique is to have someone in the team who is willing to do it, to practice is and be brave/stupid enough to ignore the danger.
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