Georgia Adams batting masterclass: How to play spin bowling in three shots

Captain of Sussex and star of the Southern Vipers and Southern Brave, Georgia Adams talks us through three crucial shots every batter needs in their armory for playing effectively against spin bowling

When I sweep, it tends to be on line rather than length. Anything that I see coming on a middle or leg-stump line to me, I know I pretty much have a free sweep.

And with bowlers coming more and more around the wicket – especially in short formats – then I'm increasingly likely to premeditate the sweep, too.

As soon as you see the ball outside your left eyeline (for right-handers), you know you can access the whole of the leg-side. Lbw is immediately off the cards, so it's a gift of a shot for you to beat the fielders behind square on the leg-side.

I like to clear my front leg and sweep hard – I favour the slog sweep, especially when I can sense that the bowler has lost their line.

But the best sweepers in the world are the ones that use their front leg to manipulate the ball around. Get across or inside, and the more behind square you'll hit the ball; open up the front leg, and the more you can access in front of square and hit the pockets.

With spinners trying to vary their pace a lot, coming down the track has become so important in the women's game.

It's a shot that you've just got to commit to. I'm always trying to hit the sightscreen, and trying not to get trapped in pockets going over extra cover or mid-wicket. Going at the sightscreen helps me to hold my front side in, and then I've got the levers to either send the ball hard down the ground along the floor or back myself to go over the top of long-on and long-off.

When you go down the track to spin, the key is quick footwork. You've got to explode out of the blocks. Take a big first step and then it's easier to adjust your second step. I try when possible to cover the off-stump with my first step regardless of the line, because I find it easier to adjust my body position to the line of the ball with the second step.

I love playing spin off the back foot, even though some batters are tentative to play that way.

For me, it can still be a really aggressive shot, as long as you look to put your weight into the ball. What you don't want is your weight to continue going backwards. Think of it as stepping back to then go into the ball – it's almost like two different movements.

That way, you'll end up in what resembles a front-foot pull-shot position or gives you the room to access the off-side. You don't want to be playing with too straight a bat; you want cross-bat power to let your hands go through the ball.

We often describe these shots as like throwing a punch. Get your hips into a 45-degree angle. Then, from that power position, you can explode your back hip into the shot and really hit aggressively against spin.

I consider back-foot play as relatively low risk, especially when compared to charging down the track. Today's bowlers are bowling quicker and flatter, so if you can hold your shape off the back-foot you can pull and cut past the ring fielders.