Ask any club captain and one of the first things he will bemoan about his team is the lack of ability to rotate the strike.

Sure, decent batsmen put the bad ball away. It’s not so easy when the pitch is tricky, the bowling is tight and the field is set to squeeze. The run rate drops and you find it difficult to set a total.

How many times in your matches have you played a rash stroke and regretted it later?

In our early days as cricketers our flamboyant side will have the better of us. It’s no surprise because fast paced games have encouraged youngsters to be glitzy.

But even in Twenty20, if you want to become a serious cricketer, temperament is a must-have.

This article is part of the “How to Improve Your Batting Shot Selection” series. To see the full list of shots click here.

With its stylish flourish, the cover drive will always get your team-mates roaring “shot!” as you blaze the ball away. Yet, it’s a paradox of a shot.

This article is part of the “How to Improve Your Batting Shot Selection” series. To see the full list of shots click here.

The crowd-pleasing cover drive gets all the glamour and attention. Meanwhile really good batsmen know that the on drive is a far more useful shot.

Look in the old-fashioned coaching book gathering dust on your shelf and you will see the shot selection mantras. If you have batted at any level you know that shot selection is way more nuanced.

The best cricketers appear to have two or more shots to every ball.

They know exactly when to use these shots and when to cut them out. Tendulkar famously scored 241 without a cover drive (he thought it was too risky to play).

Marcus Trescothick has signed with Mongoose Cricket for the 2011 season. The former-England opener will be using the innovative smaller bats to smite county bowlers to all corners of Taunton come the summer.

To celebrate this, Marcus, Mongoose and SPIN Magazine teamed up to put on a night talking cricket in London. I was lucky enough to go along and get 5 minutes to chat with ‘Banger’ before his big interview.

Cricket is supremely unpredictable. It’s the players who can take responsibility under pressure that turn difficult situations into measured wins. These players are the true leaders of a side, whether they are captain or not.

Looking, thinking and acting like a batsman will give you the confidence to bat well, whatever your batting skills.

Jonathan Trott averaged 89 with the bat in the 2010-11 Ashes series in Australia, rising to number four in the Test rankings. He's become famous for his pre-shot batting routine, making a mark with his bat, and then marking the same spot with his foot.

Setting a total in a one day match relies on the ability of a team to judge what a good score is on that day. It depends on conditions and relative team abilities, all of which need to be assessed from match to match.

Yet in club cricket, a total of 200 always comes up as the ‘magic’ score that will lead to inevitable victory.

Everyone is a bad starter at the crease. Nerves jangle, the feet are not moving as fast as the brain and you are keen to get off the dreaded duck.

But some batsmen are better than others at getting off the mark. Have you ever wondered why players like  Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar and Jonathan Trott look so composed right from the off?

Here are the 3 main reasons, and how you can employ them in your games: