This is a guest article from coach and PhD candidate Adam Kelly

Spin bowlers are game changers; the likes of Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble have all show this. But there will be days when things don’t go to plan.

How can you maintain a good performance or turnaround the bad day?

For me it starts with your confidence. Confidence is the key to performance for any athlete, however for spinners this is especially important. When you think of the top spinners they all have high confidence levels.

Sp what is confidence?

How we view ourselves

If you think that you’re not going to do well that day you won’t.

A self-fulfilling prophecy.

Warne every rarely doubted himself. Back yourself and always think of the good things that could happen. The next ball you bowl could be the ball of the millennium.

Past Experience

How we have done in the past effects how we view the future.

So if you have had a bad match then replicate the situation in training and succeed. This is important for those spinners with limited experience.

Training should be replication, use match situations, bowl at aggressive batsmen, and try new ideas.

Task Difficulty

Bowling at Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara will make you feel more nervous than bowling at a club number 11.

The difficulty of the task affects our view of success and therefore our view of ourselves. This is why replicating match situations and training against the best players is great for challenging yourself against increased task difficulty.

Replicate match situations in training, back yourself to perform every ball and forget the previous delivery (unless it's part of a plan).

Mindset

Shane Warne once said,

"no matter how far they hit the ball it will always come back."

and when it came back Warne would have another chance to dismiss the batsmen.

This quote is a great mindset to have, as it shows no fear in being hit for six. Knowing that one small mistake from the batsmen and that’s them dismissed.

Warne - like Mulalitharan - would always back himself to deceive the batsmen next ball no matter what happened the previous ball. The next ball could be the wicket taking ball that changes the game.

Use flight and guile, back yourself and remember the ball always comes back.

Relaxation

When things are going wrong or you are feeling nervous, bowling becomes more difficult. This is known as anxiety, which affects everyone in different ways and is perfectly natural.

When we panic or feel really nervous we stop thinking and start reacting. This is a primal response.

How do you stop this response and start thinking again?

One easy way is a breathing technique to help slow everything down.

Breathe in deep and slowly release the air out again. On the way out say the word "relax" to yourself.

The slow release should take 3 to 4 seconds. This will help reduce nervous and relax your shoulders so that you can bowl a ripping leggie or offie.

Adam Kelly has played county cricket for Somerset, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire, Wiltshire. Adam is currently working on his PhD theis in sport psychology: 'Investigation into pre-delivery routines in cricket batsmen'. You can read his blog here.