Fielding positions in cricket
The picture below gives a basic depiction of most of the named fielding positions in cricket. Since there are only 11 players on a team, one of whom is the bowler and another the wicket-keeper, only some of these can be used at a time.
This picture assumes the batsman is right-handed. The area to the left of a right-handed batsman is called the "Leg side" or "On side", while that to the right is the "Off side". If the batsman is left-handed, the fielding positions are a mirror image of these.
A fielding position that is moved in the same direction that the batsman is facing is called "forward *position*", so for instance a fielder placed slightly in front of the batsman on the off side would be "forward point", whilst one slightly back from the normal square leg position would be "backward square leg".
Many of these positions may be moved towards the batsman, in which case they are called "short" (e.g. "short forward leg"). A fielder who is position so close to the batsman that he is at risk of serious injury is said to be in a "silly" position, e.g "silly mid on" and "silly mid off").
A player near the boundary is fielding "in the deep", for instance "deep point".
If a wicket-keeper is believed to be inept, a fielder may be placed between the wicket-keeper and the boundary as a "long stop". This is almost never seen in professional cricket.