Fielding in the sport of
cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the
ball after it is struck by the
batsman, in such a way either to limit the number of
runs that the batsman scores or to get the batsman
out by catching the ball in flight or
running the batsman out. Cricket fielding position can be broken down into offside and legside parts of the field. A
fielder or
fieldsman may field the ball with any part of his person. However, if while the ball is in play he wilfully fields it otherwise (e.g. by using his hat), the ball becomes
dead and 5 penalty runs are awarded to the batting side unless the ball previously struck a batsman not attempting to hit or avoid the ball. Most of the rules covering fielders are in Law 41 of the
Laws of cricket.