Cricket is a game played between two teams each consisting of 11 palyers. Two wickets are placed in the pitch with three stumps and two biles over the stumps on both side of the pitch.

One side of the stump batsmen will play to hit the ball and the bowler will bowl from the other side of the stump.

There are 24 Fielding position including the Wicket keeper. They are

1. Wicket Keeper
2. First Slip
3. Second slip
4. Gully
5. Third man
6. Point
7. Cover Point
8. Deep Point
9. Cover
10. Extra Cover
11. Sweeper
12. Silly Mid Off
13. Mid Off
14. Long Off
15. Long on
16. Mid On
17. Mid Wicket
18. Deep Mid wicket
19. Silly Mid on
20. Short Leg
21. Backward Short Leg
22. Square Leg
23. Deep Backward Square Leg
24. Fine Leg

Its impossible to rate a position based on importance. Basically, you need to realise that the importance of a position changes with the strength of a particular batsman & also the situation of a game.

Normally, Point is considered the most important position & almost always teams have their best fielder in that position. That is because most of the shots actually go in that direction & you need fast reflexes to field in that position. But say, for a batsman like flintoff who is fantastic hitter down the ground, the long-off or long-on position gains more importance.

Again, during the end overs when a team is looking to save boundaries, the deep fielders gain importance since they will save boundaries & someone who fields there must have strong throwing arm.

Fine leg & third man is particularly important for tailenders during slog overs, since they get lots of fine edges that may go for boundaries otherwise. But on normal circumstances, usually the bowler in the middle of a spell or the laziest fielder in the side is placed in 3rd man position.

Gully is a catching position & is just as important as slips if a team is looking to attack & take wickets. A lot of runs can also be saved in that position especially for batsman like Shewag who invariably hits through that gap.