In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder (collectively, a slip cordon) is placed fairly close in on the off side of a batsman. Slips are usually placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips (numbered from the slip fielder closest to the wicket-keeper: first slip, second slip, etc.). A floating slip is sometimes employed, usually in limited over games, who patrols an area in the slip cordon that would ordinarily be occupied by more than one fielder. The slip cordon's distance from the batsman increases with the pace of the bowler; generally they will be marginally further away from the batsman than the wicketkeeper is. Because of the resulting geometry, spin bowlers generally have fewer slips in the cordon than a fast bowler would in an equivalent game situation. For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... Fielding in the sport of cricket is what fielders do to collect the ball when it is struck by the batsman in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball or running the batsman... For usage in other sports, see offside rule. ... Cricket batsman A batsman in the sport of cricket is, depending on context: Any player in the act of batting. ... A wicket keeper in characteristic position, ready to face a delivery. ...

The gully fielder is an extension of the line of slips and fields almost square to the batsman; gully is also the name given to that area of the field. A fielder standing in gully would be standing on the imaginary straight line that extends from the on-side corner of batter's popping crease to middle stump towards the slip cordon. The position of gully was invented by Arthur Jones, who later became England captain in the 1880s at Bedford Modern School in Bedford. It was quickly adopted by EHD Sewell at Bedford School and then gained in popularity thereafter. This page is about the former England cricket captain. ... This is a list of all English national cricket captains, comprising all of the men, boys and women who have captained an English national cricket team at official international level. ... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Bedford Modern School is a public school in Bedford, England. ... Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, England. ... Bedford School is an independent for boys, situated in Bedford, 50 miles north of London, England. ...

Enticing the batsman to edge and hit a catch to the wicket-keeper or slips is the standard wicket-taking tactic in off theory. To do so, the bowler tries to make the ball deviate off its expected line away from the batsman's body on the off-side. Outswingers or legcutter, or the standard leg spinner are delivery types that have this effect. Unsurprisingly, bowlers bowling these deliveries effectively generally have larger slip cordons than those who are not. Off theory is a bowling tactic in the sport of cricket. ... Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. ... Seam bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. ...

9 slips employed by Dennis Lillee.

On occasion, four or five slips are called for. The Australia used seven slips and a gully against Zimbabwe's lower order batsmen in a One-day International in 2001. England also used seven slips in the first Test against West Indies in Jamaica in 2004. Theoretically as many as nine fielders can be used - the eleven players minus the wicket-keeper and bowler - but this is very rare. Image File history File links Nine_slips. ... Image File history File links Nine_slips. ... For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... A One-day International (ODI) cricket match is a one-day cricket match played between two international teams each representing a particular country. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... Learie Constantine, was one of the first great West Indian players. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A fielder in the equivalent position on the on side of the wicket-keeper is known as a leg slip; this is considerably less common than the off-side slip, and for a team to employ more than one leg slip is highly unusual. The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket. ...

Eye-Witness

In fact, Australian captain Steve Waugh, while leading his side to a humiliating destruction of Zimbabwe on Saturday 23 October 1999, employed the use of ALL of his fielders in the slip cordon.

Damien Fleming had bowled impressively in Zimbabwe's collapse, and if I recall correctly only one photographer, Howard Burditt, caught the moment on camera. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mypixels/131377070/

This had been on a day when possibly Zimbabwe's record attendance at a cricket match was set, with over 10,000 (estimated) people turning out to see the mighty Australians.

David Mutendera came in as last man, on 98 for 9, and the slip cordon was suddenly packed with green-and-yellow shirts! Fortunately, that was not to be his end, as Mutendera put on a fighting 18 with Andy Blignaut to set Australia a target of 117, which they easily reached for the loss of one wicket.

A blow-up of this photo hangs prominently in the Keg & Maiden, the "home" pub of Zimbabwe cricket, which is now (that there's no cricket) the majestic Harare Sports Club's main attraction.

A scorecard is available from CricInfo.

- Joe Black

Reference

• The Cricket Captains of England by Alan Gibson ISBN 1-85145-395-4