There’s a town they call Tombstone where the brave never cry … On the outskirts of Tombstone stands Boothill Graveyard, the final resting place for the many cowboys who died “with their boots on” in the seconds-long but deadly shootouts of the wild west. In cricket, “Boothill” is the nickname for the most dangerous fielding position, under the batter’s nose and directly in the line of fire for any full-blooded sweep or pull shot. No one in their right mind wants to wind up at short leg, surely?
Honestly, you feel so alive!” Taylor is trying his best not to wake up his three-month-old son but finding it increasingly difficult to contain his enthusiastic reminisces of fielding at short leg. But I was very fortunate that I didn’t have that fear, I wanted the ball to come to me, be hit at me.” Taylor’s young son isn’t a great sleeper at the best of times according to his dad but is currently conked out in a papoose strapped to his old man’s chest. Should the BabyBjörn straps momentarily falter then the little one is in good hands.
A decade ago Taylor pulled off two cortex-frying catches at short leg in the space of half an hour that helped England win a Test against South Africa in Johannesburg. Taylor stayed low in his stance a few paces deeper than a regular short leg and grasped the catch millimeters above the turf. The whole drama unfolded in only 0.4 seconds.
He had spent hours practising this exact catch with England’s then assistant coach Paul Farbrace; the latter would deflect balls at high pace off a boxer’s sparring pad down at Taylor’s toes repeatedly. I couldn’t believe this little guy caught it.” At 5ft 6in and nicknamed “Titch”, Taylor was, well, tailor-made for short leg. Even in schoolboy cricket when I was captain, I’d put myself there because I genuinely enjoyed it and was good at it.” Like the washing up or working out the bill, plenty have considered short leg a job to do badly in order to avoid being saddled with the role, yet there have been those who relish fielding ridiculously close to the bat, many of them senior players in a team.
Think of Ricky Ponting channelling Sheriff JW Pepper, squinting, spitting in his palms and mercilessly chewing his gum only a pace or two away from some poor quaking batter, most often at silly point, the off-side opposite to short leg. Tony Greig used his 6ft 8in frame to try to intimidate and change the way a batter would play. Often with his size 12s encroaching on the popping crease, folding himself down to stare the batter right in the eyes.
Fielders who brave these close-in positions enter into a twisted kind of intimacy with the batter – they can see them sweat, hear them breathe, are privy to their whispered mantras as the bowler runs in. There’s a lot of eye contact. You hear exactly what the bowler is saying in his follow through.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
