I'm usually the last bloke in, sometimes I get a shot at No.10 and as expected my contribution with the bat is negligible. A couple of nights ago at the nets I had a bat last thing and managed to keep everyone out, although I think they'd argue that they were all knackered and that it was the first session of the season - which may be so? But having kept them form hitting the stumps (I may have edged one to slips) I'm now wondering what I should do in a game - if I'm there as the other half of the last pair and the games on a knife edge would it be better for me to simply block the ball for all of the over so that the strike changes to the better batsman or to have a go and almost guarantee we lose the game?
That then raises another question in my mind - if I was able to acquire a good blocking technique would that then mean the bowler would try and put the ball into areas outside of the off-stump to tempt me into swinging at it? Then if I was to try that - what's the thing I need to learn in order to do that and be succesful - like rolling the wrists and getting the ball to hit the deck early?
