A fielder in the equivalent position on the on side of the wicket-keeper is known as a leg slip; this is considerably less common than the off-side slip, and for a team to employ more than one leg slip is highly unusual. It is illegal to have more than two fielders in the area between square leg and long stop, to prevent the fielding team from making use of bodyline tactics.
Writing in his 'The Cricketers of My Time' (1833), John Nyren of Hambledon hints at the origin of the word 'slips' when he describes the function of a long stop as a fielder who 'is required to cover many slips from the bat, both to the leg and the off-side.
Read more about this topic: Slip (cricket)
Famous quotes containing the words leg and/or slip:
“A good leg will fall, a straight back will stoop, a black beard will turn white, a fair face will wither, a full eye will wax hollow, but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon—or rather the sun and not the moon, for it shines bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)