I was in a similar situation yesterday playing Harrow. We needed 50-60 to win in 8 or so overs. I quite often finish innings and make big hits, it's my speciality. The way i do it is to play naturally, just with a little aggression, i managed 30 odd, coming in at number 8. Sadly when we needed 11 off 1.3 overs i got bowled and the next man could only get us to within 3!

I have to agree with BBA here. You are at a great disadvantage if you try and slog every ball because the bowler can fool you with a slower delivery or just bowl straight at the stumps and wait for a mistimed cross-bat shot that misses the ball and bowls you. It is tempting to play pull shots to the onside or cover drives but that is far too risky when you are in aggressive mode. I like Michael Bevans ploy of trying to play as straight as possible with power to beat Long On or Long Off. Bevan would only ever blast it through the covers if the ball was wide of off stump. He wouldn't step across to the leg side to make room and attempt to hit a ball pitched in line with the stumps to steer it into the cover region. Too risky. If you stay still you have a chance of putting the bad ball away such as a cut or fine nick past the keeper. At the death, your job is to get some bat on ball. No one is expecting you to bat like Flintoff. Just get bat on ball and put pressure on the fielders with quick singles. In that situation, I would give the responsibility of calling for a run to the non-striker because fielders generally throw to the keeper's end. I have seen so many runouts caused by the striker pausing to look behind him where the ball has gone instead of taking off immediately after contact with the ball. That slight pause is often the difference between making it to the other end or being just short of the crease.

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Yeah I tend to do the same thing, its almost as if everything seems so slow and when the bowler runs in and releases the ball the ball is coming on to me in slow motion then once it pitches it seems to wizz through at 100mph and I end up playing and missing or playing the stroke but really late and I am an opener too! Its all form though sometimes everything clicks and you seem to be able to hit everything and anything for four.

Don't worry Ketz I am sure if you work hard enough on your batting, then one day when you walk out to the middle everything will seem to click!!

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I just played a game yesterday evening and i opened the innings. I was doing alright until i edged the ball to the slips when i was on 8. He dropped it and i lived on. But that made me think about it and soon after i was edging again and the fielder took a good catch. I have been out caught 1st and 2nd slip 90% of the time.

How do i combat this and stay at the crease for longer.

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Plan to score in the V between mid-on and mid-off (play straight), let the ball come to you (play late), keep the bat close to the body when driving off the front or back foot. Lack of footwork also contributes to nicks behind. Do you have a preliminary foot movement as the bowler releases the ball? Is the bowler quick? Your initial foot movement might be back and across towards the off-stump with the expectation of playing off the back foot. Is the bowler medium pace or slow? Your initial foot movement might be a forward press with the expectation of playing off the front foot.

This article might be helpful. It also contains some brief video. The Windows button doesn't work but the Mac OS button downloads a .mov file which can be viewed with the Quicktime player.

If you're edging a lot, the chances are you're either playing at balls you shouldnt be or you havent got your feet in the right place for the shot. Id imagine its straight bat shots that are causing the problem, so you probably need to get your front foot closer to the ball and your head above the point you hit the ball at. With things like this you might be better off asking someone who is watching you bat to see what they think you are doing wrong. Alternatively, ask one of your quicks how they would try to get you out which would give you a good idea of your weaknesses and you can work on them.

One of the things I lear'nt when I started playing senior cricket is that you can't rely on the fact that you need to play a bit later on the ball. Timing is everything, if you are playing with a streight bat and edging it I would be practising both my footwork (getting right forward to the ball, lunge rather than step) and also my timming and concentration.

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