BOWLING : 4 (+2) Tools All Spinners Can Use to Get Wickets

When you combine topspin and backspin with subtle changes of pace you have four new tools with which to dismiss the batsman:

1. Topspin, slightly slower: This is the classic flighted delivery. It will hang in the air, bringing the batsman forward, before dipping and bouncing and giving the ball enough time to spin to beat the bat or find the edge. This will frequently lead to stumpings against a batsman intent on using his feet.
2. Topspin, slightly quicker: This is the delivery to use for extra bounce. The ball will dip fiercely and leap up towards the splice of the bat, particularly on harder pitches. A good delivery to use both if you're looking for a close catch off a defensive batsman or an unintentional aerial shot off an aggressive batsman.
3. Backspin: slightly slower: This ball will appear to hang in the air and then keep very low on bouncing. A good method of dismissing a batsman intent playing aggressively off the back foot, as he will often play over the top of the delivery, possibly resulting in a bottom edge and his dismissal.
4. Backspin, slightly quicker: The classic skiddy delivery that traps the batsman on the back foot, only to surprise him by landing on a full length. Chances are it will then crash into the pads or stumps before the hapless batsman is able to get his bat down.

 It's also useful to note that a higher arm action increases the effect of the extra bounce of the top spinner. A lower arm action keeps the backspinner skidding through nice and low.

Adding Drift

Both the Magnus force and conventional swing can be used to make the ball move sideways, or drift, in the air.

A hard spun leg break or off break will drift sideways in the latter half of their flight in the opposite direction to their eventual turn. This is well known to accentuate the efficacy of the delivery, as the ball first moves one way in the air and then the other way off the pitch. Watch the drift that Shane Warne gets here.

In time the batsman becomes accustomed to this combination. When he sees the ball drifting sideways in the air he anticipates the turn.

To counter this, the spinner makes the ball drift sideways but then not turn.

This is achieved in two ways:

• With a newish ball and on a damp or green pitch, the best method is the arm ball: here the ball is held with the seam upright, and the first finger rolls down the seam at release. The ball swings in the air away from the outside edge.
• The undercutter: Returned to prominence by England spinner Graeme Swann. Here the ball is spun like a conventional off break, but with the wrist tilted back so that the ball is released spinning horizontally, or as Swann himself described it "like a flying saucer". This delivery will drift sideways in exactly the same way as the off break, but will then carry on without spinning.

Whereas the ability to turn the ball a huge amount will impress the fans, it is mastering the art of flight by understanding and including the subtle uses of topspin, backspin and sidespin into your bowling repertoire that will give you the full set of tools required to unpick the defences of the best batsmen.

Get in the nets and experiment with different types of spin, and remember it takes time to master each different type of flight.