This is an article from PitchVision Coach, and minor counties cricketer Chris Watling.

When the spinner comes on, are you filled with dread?

Many batsmen have this secret fear, you are certainly not alone. You can no longer use the pace of the ball to work it around and hit your boundaries. You are forced to defend and wait. Against a good spinner you get tied down.

And we all know what happens when you lose patience: head up, ball in the air, back to the pavilion.

There is a better way.

Manipulate the field to make it easier for you to score without taking risks.

Spinners like to bowl to you and tie you down. If you can take charge and put the ball into gaps you stop them from settling into a nice rhythm.

And then you have them under control.

Scoring starts to become easier.

They will begin to think of other ways to get you out, and provide you with more 4 balls to put away. You spread the field allowing you to milk the bowling and pick up your ones and twos.

Sounds easy, but how the heck do you do it?

There are a number of ways of using innovation to put high quality spinners off their line and length and to take them out of their comfort zone;

• Using your feet down the pitch
• Using the depth of your crease
• Using your feet sideways: getting outside off stump to take LBW out of the equation, or giving yourself room outside leg stump.
• Sweeping: conventional hard sweep, slog sweep, paddle sweep and reverse sweeping

The key aspect with all these shots is that you have a nice still base to create maximum power, and your head is still and forward to ensure all your weight is going into the ball.

Using your feet to spinners

A lot of people use their feet as soon as the ball goes above eye level. I believe you can use you feet to any delivery, but it has to be a positive movement.

This sample from Kevin Pietersen's eBook on PitchVision Academy illustrates what I mean:

If you aren't close enough to the ball you need a plan B to get yourself out of trouble.

It's OK to defend when you are down the track!

Sweeping spinners

The best time to sweep is when you want to disrupt the bowlers length and open up gaps in the field to make it easier to score.

It is possible to sweep any ball as long as your head is still, your head is forward on top of your pad and you focus on your point of contact.

Once you become a master of using your feet forwards, back, sideways and being able to sweep with control and power you will become an annoying prospect for a spinner.

And that means more runs against spin for you.