Outfield or High Catch
Catching Drill 2 – The Outfield or High Catch
The technique for a high catch is different.
It’s important to get your feet in line with the ball and hold your hands at or just above eye level, keep your head still, watch the ball and keep your knees slightly bent. Open your fingers nice and wide with your hands close together – spread your fingers but don’t have them pointing up at the sky – a good technique is to criss-cross your little fingers. As you catch the ball at or just below eye level – close your hands around it and bring it in to your chest – this is the same principle as the ‘give’ in close catching.
The majority of high catches are dropped from simply standing in the wrong place – the ball either falls to far in front of you or goes over your head and behind you. Judging your position relative to the ball is the most important skill to learn – always be ready to adjust your position slightly if you need to. On sunny days – the simplest thing you can do is wear a wide brimmed or baseball style hat, this will help you see a ball coming out of the sky when you are fielding facing the sun.
High catches are easy to practice on your own – start by simply tossing a ball above your head remembering to adopt the correct stance and position for the hands. As you get more confident, throw the ball higher or get a friend to help you practise by throwing the ball to each other.
Practise taking catches ‘out of the sun’ and for really high catches try using a short tennis racquet and tennis ball in an open field or park but don’t use cricket balls with your Mum’s new graphite tennis racquet or you might find yourself doing lots of extra jobs or raiding your savings account to help pay for a new one!!
As with all catching practice – make sure you have plenty of space and that the surrounding area is safe. If practising in a public park – especially with a cricket ball – be mindful of smaller children that may be playing nearby and show consideration for others.
Reverse Technique
There is an alternative position for the hands in high catching, the technique described above is called the orthodox technique. An alternative technique was popularised by Australian cricketers and is called the reverse technique. This involves keeping the fingers up and crossing the thumbs with the hands above eye level – catch the ball above eye level and pull the ball into your chest to give as you catch the ball. This is more suited to the third type of catch you will need to make – we call this the flat catch.
TOP TIP – a high catch may be able to be caught by one or more fielders. Call clearly and loudly if you intend to catch the ball.
