As England head off to Spain for a ‘fielding’ camp, Chris Stocks explores its importance for success
England will head backto the Desert Springs resort in southern Spain on Tuesday for a four-day training camp that will exclusively focus on fielding.
Much has been made of the potency of Morgan’s one-day side with the bat. The bowling, which has often beentheir Achilles heel, is also looking in a far better place with the return from injury of Mark Wood and David Willey.
Fielding, though, is the area that could potentially make all the difference during next month’s Champions Trophy.
Trevor Bayliss, England’s Australian coach, has an almost religious zealover fielding. That is why his first actas coach back in 2015 was to take England to Desert Springs to focus solely on slip catching.
The results were there for all to see during the Ashes series that followed, when England’s ability to catch almost everything that came their way was critical during a tight series they won 3-2.
But since then, England’s fielding has dropped off alarmingly.
Last winter in Bangladesh and India they were sloppy and unfocussed. During the final Test at Chennai they looked beaten men in the field as India piled up 759-7 declared – the highest-ever total against England.
That sloppiness slipped into the limited-overs series that followed in India after Christmas.
It was nothing new. The lowest moment for this England one-day side since their remarkable resurgence in 50-over cricket two years ago came in South Africa last year.
Leading the series 2-0 they somehow contrived to lose the final three games. In the fourth ODI at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Adil Rashid droppeda simple chance to dismiss Chris Morris on 14.
The error cost his side the game and the series as Morris went on to produce a match-winning innings of62 from 38 balls to steer the hosts to a one-wicket win.
After defeat in the final match of the series in Cape Town, Bayliss let rip. “Had we taken some catches we could be sitting here having won 3-2,” he said.
“We’ve got a number of guys that are not the quickest in the field, but I also think it’s an attitude thing.
“You want the ball coming at you; you want to prove that you can field. At times some of us don’t want the ball to come anywhere near us.
“When we are good, we’re very, very good, but it’s something we’ve got to continue to work at.”
Work at it England will under the Spanish sun next week, with bats and pads left at home as they focus solely on fielding drills.
“The last time we went to Spain was to get to know them and them to know me,” said Bayliss.
“We concentrated on slips catching before that Ashes series. This is a white-ball tournament so, yes, there will be slips work but it will be a bit of everything – honing their skills. We will be doing as much fielding as we can.”
Joe Root believes the upcoming trip to Spain will prove as profitable for the team during the Champions Trophy as it was in the 2015 Ashes.
“I’m very hopeful,” said Root. “With the Test side we did a lot of slip catching. It proved vital in that Ashes series so the more work we can do and more emphasis we put on it out there, the better.
“As a one-day side over the last couple of years our fielding has improved dramatically, but there are still areas we can improve. It’s very important we keep addressing those things if we want to be the best side in the world. We’ve got to look at every single area and look to get better.”
When it comes to the high-pressure environment of the Champions Trophy, England’s ability to produce something spectacular in the field could prove the difference between winning the tournament or not.
“Absolutely,” says Root. “A run-out, a half-chance in terms of a catch as well – that can change a game very quickly. It’s very important we do everything we can to put ourselves in positions where we can do that.”
One area where Bayliss could be criticised is the fact he refuses to hire a specialist fielding coach, instead preferring for himself and assistant Paul Farbrace to work with the players.
England have not had a fielding coach since Chris Taylor under the previous coaching regime of Peter Moores. Would a specialist coach improve things?
Bayliss does not think so and believes the issue runs far deeper.
Speaking last year, he said: “I’d like to see – in general – our fielding improve. That’s not just at this level, but at county level as well.
“There always seems to be a lot of batting and bowling technique work, but I think there probably needs to be a little more technique work done with fielding as well.
“It’s probably one area of the game that is different between Australia and England – the amount of fielding that the Australian sides do and the technique work that is done at a younger age.
“If you talk to the (England) boys, at county level most of the coaching is directed at batting and bowling skills.
“If you think of the game of cricket from a batter’s point of view, probably 85-90 per cent of the time you spend actively in the game it is fielding.
When his team is batting, he is either out in the middle or sitting on his backside. So we have to get that ratio a bit better and do a bit more work on fielding. Certainly the guys can field, but it’s that consistency we’re looking for across batting and bowling performances and fielding.”
England possess some fine fielders. Indeed, it is hard to think of anyone better in world cricket right now than Ben Stokes. They will hope their Spanish camp will help them raise their collective game in the field during the Champions Trophy. Such are the fine margins at the highest level, their hopes in the tournament may rest on it.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, May 12 2017
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