The Gully Position: Purpose, Skills, and Why It Matters
What the gully fielding position is, where it is located on the cricket field, what types of deliveries produce chances to gully, what physical and mental skills are required to field there, how gully coverage changes with different bowling types, and the difference between gully, point, and backward point in field positioning.
Where Gully Is
Gully is a close catching position on the off-side, positioned approximately square of the wicket and wider than slip — typically 3-5 metres behind the batsman's crease, between point (which is square of the wicket, in line with the stumps) and the slip cordon (which is behind the stumps, on the off-side). Gully's exact position varies depending on the specific field setting and the bowler's style — against an outswing bowler with a slip cordon, gully guards a gap between third slip and point; against a seamer bowling over the wicket into the batsman's body, gully may be positioned slightly wider to catch the deflection off the batsman's upper edge. In some field settings, 'backward gully' (slightly further back than standard gully) is used against powerful square-cutting batsmen who hit the cut shot hard and high.
What Chances Arrive at Gully
Gully catches arrive from: the cut shot played with an edge (the ball touches the outside edge of the bat on a cut shot and deflects at a steeper angle than intended, landing in the gully area); the attempted cut shot where the ball is closer to the body than the batsman expects (the ball is not wide enough for a full cut and the resulting thick edge sends the ball to gully at pace); the drive where the ball cuts back off the seam and takes an outside edge (a ball that swings or seams late can produce an outside edge that flies to gully on what looked like a good-length drive). Gully is also positioned to save the cut shot from going to the boundary on many field settings — a cut to gully that doesn't carry to the boundary can be cut off for one run if gully is positioned correctly to cut it off.
Physical Requirements
Gully is one of cricket's most demanding catching positions in terms of reflex speed — catches arrive faster and at more unpredictable angles than from the slip cordon. A slip catch arrives on a relatively predictable downward trajectory from the edge; a gully catch can arrive at any height from near-ground level to above the head, at extremely high pace (from a hard-struck cut shot edge), and from an angle that can be awkward for either hand. Elite gully fielders have exceptional hand speed and the ability to react to sudden directional changes — the ball can arrive from a cut shot played at one angle and then deviate off the bat face at a completely different angle. Good peripheral vision and anticipatory positioning (judging where the ball is likely to go based on the delivery and the batsman's shot pattern) distinguish elite gully fielders.
Frequently asked questions
How is gully different from point?
Point is positioned square of the wicket (at the same level as the stumps, perpendicular to the pitch), while gully is positioned wider and behind the wicket — further back toward the off-side than point. In terms of what shots they stop: point primarily fields square cuts and cross-bat shots played square of the wicket; gully catches edges from cut shots and late-cut deliveries that go wider than point's position. The gap between point and gully is a scoring zone that captains sometimes exploit or protect — a batsman who plays the cut narrowly (between point and gully) can score consistently unless one of these positions is brought in or moved to close the gap.
Is gully always present in a cricket field?
No — gully is an optional position that appears in specific tactical field settings, not a mandatory position. Against spinners, there is typically no gully (the ball is not moving at the pace needed to produce gully-type edges, and the captain prefers to use that fielder to stop singles in the mid-off or mid-on area). Against fast bowlers bowling outswing with a slip cordon, gully is commonly present to guard the cut-shot area. In limited-overs cricket, gully appears and disappears frequently as the field changes over — it is more common in the first 10 overs when the ball is harder and edges carry further, and less common in the death overs when captains prioritise boundary prevention over close catching.
Can a gully fielder legally catch a ball after it has bounced off their body?
Under Law 32, a catch is valid if the ball is caught cleanly without touching the ground — it cannot bounce off a fielder's body, then be caught by the same fielder after touching the ground. However, if a ball hits a fielder's body (chest, head, leg) and then is caught by that same fielder or another fielder before the ball touches the ground, the catch is valid. This occasionally happens in gully when a ball arrives fast and the fielder cannot close their hands in time — the ball deflects off their forearm or chest but then is caught by the fielder reaching for it before it hits the ground. The key criterion is that the ball must not touch the ground at any point between leaving the bat and being caught.