This article is part of the World Twenty20 Lessons series on miCricketCoach. To see the rest of the series, click here. Scroll to the bottom of this article to add your comments.

As I write this, the World Twenty20 is yet to begin, although the fine weather in England has meant we have been able to get a sneak peak at some of the top teams in the warm up matches. What techniques and tactics will the top teams use, and how can you apply them to your own games?

Spin has dominated domestic and club Twenty20 cricket. The slower pace makes it harder to hit the ball for boundaries. Yet in the last World event spin was less of an influence. More power-hitters with the bat could clear the boundaries on pitches that did not turn. It will be interesting to see how spin fares in this tournament.

Meanwhile, a lot of pre-tournament talk has been about genuine fast bowlers. Able to be used any time in the 20 overs, pace will always cause problems, although their pace may be used by the batsmen in the early overs to guide the ball rather than hit it.

So which will be more effective? It could be close in the internationals, but in club games spin and gentle medium pace will probably have the upper hand because it's harder to hit.

Australia, in their warm up match against Bangladesh, stood out because of their big hitting. But this was no slogging. Proper cricket shots were the order of the day: Down the ground, cuts and pulls. Even when fine leg and third man were brought up into the circle, the hitters still picked their spots with a straight bat.

This is the best way to bat for club cricketers too. You have more chance of hitting the ball with 'proper' shots than trying to switch hit or reverse sweep.

Twenty20 has grown a number of theories about where to bowl and when. The usual idea is to bowl back of a length in the early overs and yorkers at the death. However, to be successful on flat wickets against aggressive batsmen bowlers need to mix things up as much as possible.

India tried bowling length at the end of one of their warm ups and got punished for it. However we are bound to see more new theories including a range of slower balls alongside more traditional methods.

Many club players, brought up on the mantra of 'the corridor of uncertainty' don't practice variations in pace, line and length for short formats. However, you can't try a slower ball for the first time in a game and expect it to work. Whatever tactic you decide, make sure you work on it in practice first.

In T20 every run seems to count for more. The best fielders need to be in places where the ball is going to make clean pickups, returns and catches under pressure. You may well see captains moving fielders around positions. This also protects the lesser fielders, such as making sure the opening bowler is at short third man rather than having to chase round from fine leg all the time.

As long as you can stay within time constraints then it makes sense to do the same in your games; particularly as there is a greater range of fielding abilities at club level.

There is certain to be plenty more ideas and methods as the tournament unfolds. What techniques do you use and what are you looking forward to seeing the top guys implement during the World Twenty20?