The Gully Position: Catching Slips' Aggressive Partner
Gully is the most athletic catching position in cricket, requiring explosive lateral movement to catch edges and steer balls that burst through the slip cordon.
Where Gully Stands
Gully stands between the slip cordon and the point position — at roughly 130-145° behind the bat, wider than the third slip but narrower than point. The position targets the thick outside edge off cuts and forcing shots that are too wide to be taken by slip but carry too fast for point to reach in time. Against pace bowling, gully is positioned at catching distance from the bat (15-20 metres); against spin bowling on a turning pitch, gully moves squarer and deeper to cover the cut shot rather than the thick edge. Gully is often the most athletic fielder in the team — the position demands explosive lateral movement, good hands for difficult chances, and the ability to take catches at sharp angles that don't allow a two-handed regulation catch.
The Reflexes Required for Gully Catching
Gully catching is considered technically harder than slip catching because the angle is wider — a ball from gully's perspective is arriving at a more horizontal trajectory rather than the vertical trajectory a slip fielder sees. The reaction time is similar (0.1-0.15 seconds from bat to hand), but the lateral movement required (diving left or right from a starting position) is greater. Elite gully fielders like Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Collingwood, and Andrew Symonds were celebrated for their reflexes in the position — catches that other fielders would not have reached. The gully fielder also takes catches from uppish cuts that are hit hard and at head height, requiring a different catching technique from the standard waist-height slip catch.
When Gully Is Used vs When It's Removed
Gully is predominantly used in two match situations: against pace bowling when a thick outside-edge catch from an aggressive shot is likely (the batsman is driving and cutting hard, and the captain wants the catching position covered); and against spin bowling when the cut shot is the batsman's primary scoring mechanism (gully acts as a cut-catcher rather than a pace-edge fielder). Gully is removed when the pitch is docile, the batsmen are well-set and playing defensively, or the captain needs to protect the boundary rather than take catching chances. In T20 death overs, gully is almost never used — the priority is boundary prevention, not catching positions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between gully and third slip?
Third slip and gully occupy adjacent positions — third slip is typically at 120-130° behind the bat (very wide of off stump but still in the slip cordon), while gully is wider at 135-145° and is sometimes positioned more forward than third slip. The practical difference is the type of catch each takes: third slip gets the fuller edge that carries away from the bat at slip height; gully takes the wider edge or the uppish cut that carries to a wider angle and often at a steeper height. Teams with pace bowlers who generate sideways movement often play three slips and no gully; teams who play swing bowlers on flat pitches more commonly use two slips and a gully because the batting attack is more horizontal than vertical.
Has any fielder ever taken a hat-trick of catches in gully?
A hat-trick of catches from any single position (three consecutive catches) is extremely rare in cricket, and from gully specifically there are no widely documented instances in international cricket. However, Andrew Symonds, during a particular Test match against Pakistan, took four catches in gully in a single innings — a record for the most catches from gully in a single Test innings by one fielder. Herschelle Gibbs was similarly prolific in the gully position during South Africa's peak years, taking multiple catches in the same match on several occasions. The position does produce multiple-catch innings for specialist fielders because the same bowling pattern that generates one thick edge often generates another.
Can gully catch off a no-ball?
A catch taken by any fielder, including gully, off a no-ball is not a valid dismissal. The batsman is safe from being caught off a no-ball delivery — the fielding side gains a no-ball penalty (1 extra run to the batting side plus a free hit in limited-overs cricket) but the caught dismissal does not stand. This applies regardless of which fielder takes the catch — slip, gully, mid-on, or keeper. The gully fielder may take a perfect catch off a ball that the umpire signals no-ball, and the batting side celebrates both the dropped catch (from a dismissal standpoint) and the free hit that follows in limited-overs play. Umpires call no-ball before the delivery has been completed when possible, but if the no-ball call comes after the catch, the catch is still void.