Cover in cricket is a field position on the off side. The conventional spot of this fielder is within the 30-yard circle.
Historically, across many cricket grounds globally, outside the boundary ropes on the off side lies an area where groundsmen keep the covers that are brought on the field to cover the pitch whenever it rains. Thus, the corresponding fielder in this region was referred as the cover. Another theory behind the fielder being named cover was to suggest that since this fielder is placed between point and mid-off, the player has to ‘cover’ a significant portion of the field to stop the flow of runs.
One of the most preferred shots of batters is the cover drive. It is targeted between the region of cover and mid-off and is hit when a ball is bowled outside the line of the off-stump. The fielder at cover is placed to stop the flow of runs through this graceful shot. If a fielder is placed at cover, then the the field set is heavily dominated towards the off-side. Especially in the initial overs when the ball swings, the fielding side might also have a few slips in position. The goal is to target the corridor of uncertainty, forcing the batter to hit a drive towards the cover region. This opens up the possibility of the batter either knicking an edge or mistiming a shot to land a catch to the slip or cover respectively.
At times a fielder is placed between cover and mid-off. This position is called the extra cover. If both the fielders at cover and extra cover are pushed back to the boundary, then these field positions become deep cover and deep extra cover.
An attacking variation of the cover is called short extra cover or short cover. This fielder is placed between the pitch and the traditional cover position. In an attacking field setup, this fielder can be of assistance to either pacers or spinners. The bowler’s line is slightly outside the off-stump, pitched at a fuller length.
Cover, point, mid-wicket, and square leg form the four most important field positions to resist the potential number of shots that a batter can hit through cut and drive shots.
