Is it allowed to play a cricket match without positioning any fielder as a wicket keeper?

Question

In a cricket match , there are total 11 players which we called as playing eleven who will be there fielding and batting for a side.

There are different positions on which the fielders can be placed such as a gully,slip,third man etc.

In a standard cricket match we can remove fielder from slip and put him at the gully or anywhere else we want(of course within and according the ICC rules for fielding positions).

My question is can we remove a wicket keeper from his position leaving his field blank(no one behind the stumps) and make him field at the slip?

Is it required to have a wicket keeper behind the stumps every time?

Is there any rule?

Answer 1

There is no requirement to have a wicket-keeper at all times. However, according to Law 40.1:

If by his actions and positioning it is apparent to the umpires that he will not be able to discharge his duties as a wicket-keeper, he shall forfeit this right and also the right to be recognised as a wicket-keeper

He will therefore not be allowed to keep wearing keeping pads and gloves in his new position.

Mike Brearley once placed the keeper David Bairstow on the boundary for the final ball of the innings, when the opposition needed three runs off the last delivery.

Answer 2

Yes its allowed, and someone has done it now!

During Worcestershire's stint in the field, their captain Daryl Mitchell asked wicketkeeper Ben Cox to ditch his gloves and pads and become an extra fielder - leaving no one behind the stumps.

The ploy developed as an extension of MS Dhoni's decision to stand back to the spinners while keeping for India in the Test series in England last summer.

The umpires, after consultation, allowed it. "In a game when you're trying to stop the opposition scoring, it's a legitimate tactic," Steve Rhodes, the Worcestershire director of cricket, said.

Moeen's second over - the 16th of the innings - saw Cox remove gloves and pads and go to fly-slip, with no one standing up to the stumps. Umpires Nick Cook and Graham Lloyd conferred at length and allowed play to continue, with Mitchell persisting in the tactic for the spinners from thereon.

More here: Worcestershire ditch keeper