Unless you plan to only face bad spinners, there will come a time when you need to get fancy with your spin game.

This second part of the guide to playing spin gives you more options to use to both rotate the strike and score more boundaries against spinners.

It’s important to remember something here: You don’t have to use any of these options. Focus on nailing the basics, especially driving on the downswing. This will stand you in good stead.

That said, you might find one of these options come naturally to you. Or you might find one of these options more useful in specific conditions. So, try them out in practice, even if your driving game is not perfect yet. If you discover a natural affinity for sweeping you’ll be thankful you did!

Let’s look at the options.

The sweep: friend or foe

Sweeping is controversial.

It’s not universally applauded like the drive. When you get out sweeping - or reverse sweeping - a lot of your team mates will look at you with disgust at your perceived lack of discipline.

On the other hand, it’s incredibly useful, especially for batsmen who are more naturally set up to play cross bat shots (often referred to by movement boffins as rotational). Some even find sweeping comes more naturally than driving and so is the safer shot.

So, your first job is to work out how easy you find the sweep.

Try it at nets and see what happens. If you middle more than 40% on your first go, you have something to work with. If it’s less than four in ten you need to either drop it or work much harder to get it right.

Your next thought is towards the culture of the team. Does your club or school support sweeping or do they think of it as terrible cross-bat nonsense? Most teams will have players in both camps, usually depending on how well they sweep themselves. You need to know both what the generally accepted team idea is on sweep shots, and what everyone find acceptable for you to do.

If your role is accepted as including sweeping, then you can have it in your game.

If the team culture is agains sweeping apart from the lowest risk times, like sweeping a ball that has pitched outside leg only, then you need to reign in any ambitions for the shot.

With all this in mind, you can build up a system for sweeping that works for you.

Now, let’s play the shot!

Playing the sweep variations

You can sweep almost any ball, although it’s most commonly used to a good length ball. It’s riskier to play to balls hitting the stumps because bowled and LBW are in play. However, that should not put you off if you are confident and skilled.

There are a few variations. You will find you are better at some and worse than others,

1. Hard: Hit firmly along the ground out in front of the eyes. Aimed through midwicket or square leg.
2. Paddle: Played finer, and letting the ball hit the bat to run away.
3. Reverse: Swapping around and hitting the ball hard through point.
4. Slog: Aimed over the top of midwicket or square leg.

Look to sweep to rotate the strike or even score a boundary when the spinner is bowling a good length. It’s a controlled way to get up the other end when it’s hard to get the ball away.

It upsets the bowler and shows him no respect. It shows everyone who is in control of the game.

Remember to use it as a tool to get a job done, and never as a last resort panic shot. The latter is far more likely to get you out, and garner criticism from the coach.

Speaking of tools, the sweep is also a great shot to use paired up with others to keep control of the game.

For example, reverse sweep a spinner into a gap behind square on the off side and you will see square leg or midwicket move to fill the gap. You can then tap it through the new gap. You are in control of the game.

You can also do one of my favourite things in cricket: five from two. Here you sweep a ball for a boundary and the fielder gets put out. Then you sweep again and take the single. It shows total control from the batsman and drives the bowler insane, especially if it happens in the first two balls of the over.

No fielders in the air

Former England off-spinner Robert Croft once told me he loved to see his team’s batsmen hitting spin over the top because “there are no fielders in the air”.

It’s a great line, but it also rings true. Think about all that space behind fielders and you quickly realise that going over the top is not about clean hitting sixes, but about dinking it into a gap and making runs.

And you can do that any stage of the game.

Like the sweep it takes confidence, skill and practice, especially if you are going to try it on slower pitches where the ball doesn’t come on and you need to do all the work.

Yet, it also allows you to control the game.

You can hit a boundary over the top with a straight bat and watch the fielder go back. Then you pick up your “five in two” single and giggle to yourself from the non-striker’s end.

Also like sweeping, it’s not a shot of desperation or anger. It’s a shot of cool, calculated control. Pick your infielder to go over, rather than trying to clear the man on the rope. You are still entitled to change your mind if you feel something isn’t right before you start your downswing.

So, once you have committed to the shot - usually to a length ball where you dance down the wicket - aim to hit the ball hard, like an orthodox drive, and only just in the follow-through. Aim to go as flat as possible while still getting it over the fielder.

If you get the timing of this wrong and it’s too much into the follow-through you will hit it more upwards and less flat. This is not ideal as it increases your chance of both a poor contact and getting it into the reach of a fielder.

There are several ways you can attempt the shot. More orthodox driving is one option but is often difficult for less strong guys to get enough power to clear the infield. You can, drop kick and line drive.

Practice away from a net. Set up target zones on the outfield and work on ways to make the ball get into them from slower bowling. You’ll be surprised how quickly you learn to do it, and build your confidence in playing over the top in any match situation.

Summary

Playing spin can be difficult and confusing. It has many options so requires you to know your game inside out and be confident of the way you will play in any situation.

Using this guide, you can get practicing different ways to play that work for you from orthodox driving to sweeping and going over the top. Then you can walk out to bat with the spinner on, safe on the knowledge you have a method that will get you on top an keep you there.