Why Crouch:

• To get a good perspective of the ball at eye level on the bounce and to move in line with it.
• Weight evenly on balls of both feet. Shoulders in line with feet.
• Gloves on the ground in an open fashion to allow you to move with the line of the ball as you rise.

Glove Work:

• Never point fingers at the ball (will break fingers, I promise).
• Always point fingers downwards or sideways with an open cup of the hands. For the high kicking ball point finger upwards.
• There is an awkward spot in the middle of the chest area. Keeper has to decide to squat to take the ball overhead or swivel the hips and shoulders to take the ball to your side.
• When taking a relaxed “take” accept the ball in front of the eye line and give a relaxed cushion of the ball into the gloves.
• When standing back to faster bowlers judge where each bowler’s length will be taken on the first bounce at a comfortable height on the hip.

Footwork:

• Foot Movement- Start off with a little sideways first step thus allowing a stronger and wider second step.
• Always take the ball on the inside of the body to the stumps by moving in a sideways motion and taking the ball on the hip, both sides of the wicket.

Standing up to the spinners:

• Make a spot by marking a line with your toe-2 foot lengths (3 for little feet) back from line of off stump then draw a line parallel to stumps from your heel-Make a second line from about 5 cms outside the off stump (normally the outside off the shoe) where the line meet is where your left foot should be.
• Stay down and only come up with the bounce off the ball.
• Gloves are the last things to leave the ground.
• Keep head and eyes over gloves at all times.
• When moving to the off side, keep left foot anchored to ground, taking the ball with your head over the ball, the anchored foot is important for balance when attempting a stumping. It’s an extremely wide ball to be taken outside your eye line.
• When moving to the leg side you obviously have to move further. Move both feet in the skipping fashion thus taking the ball on the inside of the body looking for the stumping.