With the season fast approaching, we’ve joined forces with The Wicket Keeping Coach, Josh Sivier, to give you five things to think about when you’ve got the Wicketkeeping gloves on this summer.
1. A Strong Setup is a Powerful Setup:
Often, keepers sit a little too low, especially when stood up to the stumps. If hips sink below knees it becomes a mission to drive back up, wasting time and, most importantly, vital energy that we need for the rest of the game. If we can touch finger tips to the floor with hips just above knees, we’re engaging our quadriceps which is going to be massive for driving up and/or moving our feet to get head and hands in line. Stood back, we want to be in the best position to move in any direction. From our setup position, try and jump as high as we can. The lowest point of this movement is our perfect depth as that is when we are ready to spring up. Start with hands at knee level as this gives us the best of both worlds - ability to drop down and collect the low catches, as well as being able to get those hands high for those quick bouncers that might come our way.
2. Big Hands = More Catching Chance:
Having both palms face the ball gives us the best possible chance to catch the ball, especially when the edges are a bit thicker stood up. This sounds obvious, but it all comes from our body position. A slight opening of our hips is going to move our palms in whatever direction our hips turn, closing those hands. Staying nice and chest on to the ball, with hips driving from left to right will keep those hands nice and big and give us the best opportunity to catch those nicks stood up. Remember though, some edges are too big and will pass us by when we’re stood up to the stumps and that’s OK - all we can do is watch the ball and get head and hands in line with it to give us the best possible chance.
3. Standing Back is Another Fielding Position:
You wouldn’t see a fielder at point shuffling sideways no end to catch a ball. In the same vain we do not need to either. Whilst there is certainly scope for a shuffle or two either to the off side and especially down leg to gain vision of the ball, we can be nice and free with how we move. The key is getting our head as close to the ball as we can. If that involves us taking a step that opens our body up to get across and get our head close to the ball - great! A ‘turn & go’ position (opening up the outer foot to turn out and running towards gully) is used so often by professional players and this can be used by us too. Whilst standing up to seamers is a little more prescriptive in terms of movement, allowing ourselves to be nice and free stood back - anything can happen back there, especially in England with the amount of post-bat wobble - is key! We need to get our head in the best place possible to catch everything that comes our way.
4. Larger Gloves = Bigger Catching Area:
Of course we all have our own preferences when it comes to kit, but this is something worth considering. The larger the gloves, the bigger the surface area you’re going to have to catch the ball. Therefore, those edges that just go past us could find themselves catching that large Gray-Nicolls webbing and being taken. This is by no means an exact science and it may well take a bit of trial and error, especially with inners and how many of them we wear on each hand, but this could have a big impact, in particular when we stand up to the stumps. As I mentioned above, this is all down to personal preference, and it may not suit everyone, however this could be the breakthrough moment for some!
Check out the latest Gray-Nicolls wicket keeping range here.
5. You’re Going to Drop One at Some Point:
Whilst we all try to avoid it as much as possible, we will drop a ball at some point this season. This happens. We sadly can’t catch everything, the same way a goalkeeper can’t stop every shot that comes their way. We also make mistakes at times, be that due to a slight lack of concentration or some other circumstances. It is part and parcel of the game. No one means to make a mistake, the important part is how we deal with it. Luckily for us, there are plenty of balls left to correct that mistake that was made, and that next ball is coming in about 30 seconds time. As frustrating as it can be (and not helped by teammates at times!) we need to park it as we need to catch the next one that’s coming our way, and the next one, and the next one. The sooner we can come to terms with the fact that we will drop a ball at some point, the easier it’ll be to deal with when it comes. You’ll will be catching hundreds (if not thousands) of balls over this summer, a few might slip through and that’s OK - dust ourself off and get ready for the next one because it’s coming sooner than you think.
You can find loads of brilliant tips and tricks as well as finding information about getting 1-1 coaching from Josh on his Instagram which can be found here.
Use Josh’s code A_WKCOACH20_24 for 20% our 2026 wicket keeping range, just in time for the season to begin!
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