This position is very risky to the fielder even when wearing a helmet, therefore its name is 'silly' point. Other close positions are silly mid off, and silly mid on.

Cricket is played by two teams, of 11 players each, one team fielding and one team batting. The game is played on an oval field with a 22-yard long pitch in the middle. At either end of the pitch are the wickets consisting of three hip-high posts called stumps. The batter protects the ball from hitting the wickets by hitting the ball with a willow bat. A bowler from the fielding team runs up from one end and bowls the ball to the batter at the opposite end. The batter gets a run every time he hits hard enough to have time to switch ends with the other batter. He can also get 4 runs at once by hitting the ball past the boundary of the oval field, or 6 runs by hitting it over on the full. The aim of the batters is to get as many runs as possible in a fixed number of overs. An over is a series of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end. The following over is bowled from the opposite end. The aim of the fielders is to get all the batters out by bowling them out, when hitting the stumps, catching or running them out.

The most common form of the game is the 50-over game, which lasts a whole day. There are also 3 and 5-day games. A version of the game has become popular recently and that is the 20 over game, loved for its high speed and excitement.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org