This article is part of the Cricket Fitness Workouts series. For the full list, click here.

Like all cricketers, to be a good spinner you need a base of fitness, especially in strength and power. Maybe it's not the same as smashing sixes and bowling bouncers, but a ripping ball is equally destructive.

But spin also need a lot of time bowling spin, which leaves you with the gym as a secondary concern. You want to get in, get it done and get out so you can go back to bowling.

You want as much as you can get in as little time as possible.

This article is part of the "Streetwise Bowling" series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here. This tactic has been provided by Spin Coach, Menno Gazendam.

Bowling leg breaks to a batsman with a weak spot on his legs?

Don't just go the obvious route and pitch every ball outside of leg stump.

The batsman will know what is going on and just pad you safely away. Instead, work him over by getting him to come forward, then surprising him with a big turner outside leg.

This article is part of the “Streetwise Bowling” series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here.

Bowling at leg stump has a bad rap. It's seen as defensive and, by many, as almost against the spirit of cricket. So much so that in many formats, the leg side wide has all but killed the tactic.

But in the right situation, this plan is an excellent variation to the usual line for a left arm bowler. The batsman is not used to the lines. More importantly, there are few gaps in the field meaning the batsman is going to have to do something unusual to get you away.

As such, it can be used in both attacking and defensive roles.

This article is part of the "Streetwise Bowling" series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here.

Off spinners have to be clever. Moving the ball in to the right hander reduces your ability to take wickets over an equally skilled slow left arm bowler.

That means you need to be even more canny than the average spinner, and it's why you see such a variety in styles of off spin.

The big ripping offie bowls an "attacking" line outside off stump and through the gate. This is a great tactic, but what do you do to mix it up, or defeat a batsman who has your number?

So, picture the scene: an attacking off spinner who is having no luck against a batting pair. The batsmen are using their feet well to get to the pitch and drive safely.

What happens next?

Do you recognise this?

Bowlers have bowling with soaking wet balls, drying the ball on a towel kept in the back your trousers and fielders throwing the ball sideways as the ball slips out of their hands. Anyone who has played club cricket will know all about these kinds of challenge.

Can you use more spinners in your Twenty20 games?

The statistics are on your side. Recently Nasser Hussain observed, that 9 of the top 10 bowlers in international T20 are spinners. He then asked that if spinners are the best bowlers in this format of the game, then why don't we always pick at least two of them as a matter of course, or maybe even three?

Before I decide that for my teams, there are a couple of questions I want to ask.

This article is part of the "Streetwise Bowling" series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here.

This tactic takes a lot of guts and even more self-confidence as a bowler.

Will you risk it?

It's based around the old joke that after bowling a half volley and being hit for a boundary, some wag will comment that you have "lulled the batsman into a false sense of security". It's funny, but in reality you can do just that.

If you pick your moment perfectly.

This is a guest article from Max Andrews, Leg Spinner and Coach

Have you ever felt this way?

I'm a leg spinner who had good success in my first few seasons of club cricket. As I got older and started playing representative cricket I was not having much success at all. It came to a stage when I thought about giving up leg spin and bowling medium pace.

There was even a time when a thought about giving up cricket all together.

It's a rut I know many spinners face. But I got through it.

With 2013 drawing to a close, it's time to give you the best content on PitchVision Academy from the last 12 months. It's been another stellar year.

Of course, the year wouldn't be complete without thousands hitting the site to learn how to become a cricketer, so we published our complete guide in May, then added even more advice with a rant about all the things that people do wrong.

Every bowler needs a plan.

For most, especially the inexperienced, it doesn't get more complicated than "hit the top of off stump". Of course, there is nothing wrong with that plan. It often works. But batsmen are canny. They don't always do what you want.

That's why the really good bowler is able to bowl to a plan that goes beyond the basics and into the wicket-taking stratosphere.