Catches win matches so the saying goes - and recently I have witnessed two occasions where the fielder has stuck out his hand and to his amazement the ball has stuck and there was great jubilation all round at this slip catch.

Innings over and game over. Then there was a running diving catch. It’s hard to run back trying to see where the ball is and this player dived in anticipation and gathered the ball cleanly. Again, game over.

Fielding practice is sometimes overlooked as all players want to do is have batting or bowling practice in training. The fielding practice, if any, seems to take place an hour before morning of a match as a bit of a warm-up. I remember watching the New Zealand Black Caps at Headingley a few years ago where fielders were stood round the boundary and the object of the exercise was to stop the boundary at first and return to the keeper. I did see a direct hit in one game which left a few stunned people which proved the practice was worthwhile.

Then, they practised catching on the edge of the boundary making sure they didn’t step over it with the ball in hand as it would be a six. It is now a well-practised art to leap off the field of play having thrown the ball in the air and return to the field of play to catch it or to throw it to another fielder if off balance. A fair catch is one that is made without the ball touching the ground and the fielder being in full control of his body movement.

In a local game I did see a player running towards the sightscreen which was inside the boundary line and caught the ball at the side of the sightscreen and ran round behind it celebrating and appeared at the other side. He looked dumbfounded when the umpire signalled six. The umpire decided he wasn’t in control of his body movement as he couldn’t stop before going behind the sightscreen. The boundary line is in front of the sightscreen if a board is placed across the front or if not, follows the outline of the frame. In this case running behind the frame meant he was out of the playing area.

Practice and the knowledge of the law is worthwhile.