Menno Gazendam is author of the popular Spin Bowling Project.

 The first thing you should do when you arrive at the field is check the wind.

Not the pitch, but the wind.

Menno Gazendam is author of the popular Spin Bowling Project.

Here's a question I got from a reader;

"I don’t get much bowling opportunity in the game. And when I do, one mistake and I am off".

This is a very common complaint.

Menno Gazendam is author of the popular Spin Bowling Project online coaching course. This week he discusses how to captain spinners.

The best players have always been the brave players.

Just think of Marshall batting with a broken hand, Graeme Smith a broken finger, Murali with a problem hamstring bowling his heart out at the World Cup, Kumble with bandages around his head still fizzing down top spinners: all great players, all brave.

But, there is a different type of bravery in cricket, one that is often overlooked. One that you will rarely hear mentioned in any commentary.

The word that sprung to mind watching South Africa’s 2012 win at the Oval against England was 'clinical'.

The one thing that was evident to me was the the South African batters adaption their individual games in order to counteract England’s spin talisman, Graeme Swann. Here are the tactics they used so well, and what the off-spinner could have done to prevent their success.

Menno Gazendam, author of the popular Spin Bowling Project book, begins a new weekly column on spin bowling. To keep up to date with Menno's advice subscribe to the newsletter. Please welcome Menno to the fold!

As a spinner there are times when you cannot seem to land the ball on the pitch for all money.

The main problem with this (besides that you are probably being hammered around the park), is that the ball cannot spin. And if it does spin, well, then you have become a slow bowler and you cannot call yourself a spinner anymore.

Here are four fixes though:

Sometimes even the great Shane Warne had to admit defeat.  Despite being the textbook attacking spinner, there were times even Warnie used negative bowling to get results.

There is certainly no shame in switching plans as a last resort.  If the finest leggie to ever live used it, you can too.

Picture the scene; a limited over game where you bat first and put up an above par score of 223. 

From Harbhajan Singh to Dale Steyn, IPL 2012 has been littered with examples of cricketers pushing the Spirit of Cricket to its limits. The offenders will say it’s just passion over-spilling, but do you need a bad boy to succeed at your level?

The example of Harbhajan Singh is a good one to examine. The Mumbai Indian’s skipper argued for several minutes with the umpire, eventually forcing him to review his decision.

Just as with the pace bowlers in a previous article, we are concentrating on drills and progressions in pre-season. This week it's the turn of the spinners.

Bowling from the Delivery Stride Drills

With Burners on holiday, David Hinchliffe and Mark Garaway get to discuss what it was like seeing Kevin Pietersen up close during filming at the Oval. You can see the results here.

The team also discuss the Ranji Trophy final and rant about writing people off too early.

Plus we answer your questions on how leg spinners and wicketkeepers can work together and how to look after a young talented fast bowler like Pat Cummins.

Preparation for the bowlers at the start of the innings often relies on stretching and a few practise balls, with the marking of the run-up left to necessity at the last minute.

Something my team started to do was to get the whole bowling attack to mark their run-ups together from both ends.