Fielding Redefined by Jonty Rhodes

It's time for a quick break, but when we come back, we're talking cricket, fielding, and the moments that shaped Jonty's career.

[upbeat music] Tell me, do you think the way that fielding is being valued now in the game, i- is it the same, or do you think it's changing a little bit? I mean, I was reading a stat before this episode, and 126 catches were dropped in that last T20 World Cup.

If you let that stat sink in, that's the most that...

Uh, it's a record amount of missed opportunities that we've seen in any edition of, of the World Cup.

That's a lot of dropped catches.

And you look at the way that, you know, these players are now jumping from tournament to tournament an- and a lot of the leagues, you know, you're jumping into an environment that you haven't met a lot of these people before.

Do you think it's, it's, it's changing in a way that...

Or, or what's your, I guess, impression of that?

You know, Grace, I, I, I think of the way that the game has evolved and, and, you know, batting and bowling has gone to so many next levels, not just the next level.

And fielding has gone with it.

You know, it, it really, it was fascinating my first season of, of coaching in, in the Indian Premier League was with Mumbai Indians in season two.

So season one I wasn't there.

And, and season two, uh, was in South, held in South Africa, and, and obviously the focus for me was, was still around, you know, the inner circles, guys on the boundary, and it was Kieron Pollard, the first time he played for Mumbai Indians, who showed us what was possible defending the boundary, 'cause up until then it was, you know, cutting off the, cutting off the boundary on the ground, taking the catches that came to you.

But once it passed over, that was it.

So the game evolved incredibly.

So as, as a fielding coach, you suddenly become aware that, hold on, you know, there's some incredible things that the players can do bringing the ball back in, not only to save the six, but they can even take a wicket.

So it's, it's been, you know, again, with the bat, all the skills, and, and fielding has become the third discipline.

You can't hide a single player in the field.

The ball will find you.

And, and, and the way that the guys bat these days, um, it, it, it does.

It, it, it goes to, you know, it used to be ABD360.

Now every player's got every shot that gets the ball in every part of, of, of the cricket field.

So watching catches go down has, has been fascinating.

Players are hitting the ball harder.

For sure they are hitting the ball harder.