The underlying principle of playing spin is always the same: first play with the spin using the full face of the bat.
That means driving with a high elbow on the front and back foot. The exact target area will vary depending on the way the ball is turning.
Ball turning in: Look to drive/flick the ball in an area between midwicket and straight mid off.
Ball turning away: Look to drive the ball in an area between cover and straight mid on.
Wait for the over pitched or slightly short ball then get in position and swing the bat through the line towards the target area.
Simply playing like this will get you plenty of runs without having to do anything else.

2. Use your feet

Now imagine the spinner is tying you down enough so you’re behind the run rate, the first tactic is to use your feet to move down the wicket and turn a good length ball into a half volley that you can drive straight.
This is slightly riskier than staying in your crease because if you miss it you can be stumped, but because you are still playing straight you can pick up runs in your chosen scoring area (which hasn't changed).
A batsman who can use their feet effectively is a spinner’s nightmare.
Spin is all about rhythm, you can easily upset that if you are able to move down the track to drive or rock right back to cut or pull. The risk of moving out of your crease is that you can be stumped. That means effective use of your feet is about minimising the risk to your wicket while putting the bowler off their stride. This is how the best players of spin in the world do it. Batsmen like Tendulkar, Ponting and Sangakkara are all confident with their feet. They are able to score large numbers of runs by dominating with both aggressive boundary hitting and working the ball into gaps with very little chance of getting stumped.
You can use these tricks to follow their lead.

Think like a spinner

Playing spin well can start before you even walk out to bat. Ask yourself what this bowler is trying to do, because if you know that, you can counter it. How do you find this out? By watching.
This can be done in the middle, playing watchfully to start with, or on the boundary and asking players who have faced already. Start by looking at the field. Where are the close catchers and where are the deep fielders? This will tell you a lot about a bowler's plan. The more information you can get the better; look at the way the ball is turning (and how much), the bowlers stock pace, line, length and flight, how much bounce there is and
what variations the spinner is using?
If you prefer (or need) to get on with things you may be able to pick this information up before you have even faced a ball, giving you the option of moving your feet early. Otherwise it's a safe bet to take a few balls to work this information out while playing defensively. Whether the goal is having a look, working the strike or hitting out, the best players are always able to establish their own choice of pace on a spinner. They do this by second guessing their aims.

Wait for the right ball

Spinners want you to attack them because it increases their chance of getting a wicket. How many players get stumped in your club every season because they picked the wrong ball to come down the wicket? In modern coaching terms, you need to pick the 'percentage ball': the one that gives you least chance of getting out.
A good or slightly full length, especially if it is towards leg stump is a ball to use your feet to, because it gives you the best chance of making contact. Coming down the wicket makes a good length ball into a ball you can drive and a half volley into a full toss. If it’s straight you can usually get a bat (or as a last resort, a pad) on the ball. Compare this type of delivery to a left arm spinner bowling to a right hander outside off stump. You have to reach for the ball away from your body as it’s turning away from you further. If you misjudge you can't get anything else in the way and the keeper has a clear sight all the way to whipping off the bails. It's a low percentage shot.
Club spinners are sure to bowl balls you can hit, so pick your fights and up your chances.

Stay balanced and play the ball late

"What is the first thing you look for when you are watching a batsman? His eye and head position, his ability to stay balanced and therefore move off both feet, and the ability to play late - see the ball early and play it late. It's not easy to allow the ball to come all the way to you and hit it at the last second as opposed to going hard at the ball. You have to do that - go hard - sometimes when you want to hit the ball in the air. But I would say head position, footwork, balance and playing late are the key."
Martin Crowe

Martin Crowe may have nailed the principle but timing is a very complex and not fully understood art.
In the ideal world you would pick up the flight early, select your shot with time to spare and then strike the ball as late as possible, because you can hit the ball where you want with the force required. If you get through the stroke early, physics dictates that the ball will go in the air with less power than intended; you’re risking getting caught. To counter this, the feel you are going for is hitting the ball as it passes under your eyes. So how do you get this right from ball one? This mainly comes with experience of playing different types of spin. Pace can vary between spinners by 15mph or more which makes a big difference to how long you have to wait to play the ball.
If you have time, take a few balls to judge the bowler as above.
Get your eye in before you bat with some throw downs, or a net against some decent spinners.
Using your feet to spin is a very effective way to maintain control over a bowler, but it's a game of risk reduction: pick the right ball at the right time. That's why the great players of spin are able to use their feet without getting stumped. What else can we learn from the way these players approach the technique?
Here’s what I’ve observed when the good players of spin decide to move down the wicket.

Be a surgeon

If you have an operation you are going to want the surgeon to work with control, accuracy and precision. You certainly want to avoid the guy who wants to hack away with carefree abandon. Your batting against spin should be like the former. Not that any surgeons do the latter, but a lot of batsmen act this way when coming down the wicket.
I think this stems from a misguided assumption: If you come down the wicket you have to smash it. Not only is this wrong, it's the highest risk way to play spin. What happens to most batsmen if they try and hit it too hard? They lose their technique; they take their eye off the ball and either miss it or loop it straight to a fielder.
The alternative is to place the ball into the gaps. Much of the success of good batsmen can be found in their mind-set: Stay in control. Look for areas to hit the ball. Place it where the fielders aren't. You can still hit boundaries this way and even clear the rope. However, you are doing it on your terms and not the bowlers. Make your buzz words “pinpoint” and “placement”.

Play straight

Coaches the world over insist their charges play with a straight bat. As Bob Woolmer always pointed out, a cricket bat is a lot longer than it is wide. This is good advice when coming down the track because it increases your chances of hitting the ball and we’re all about increasing chances right? Plus, you’ll mostly be hitting balls of low full toss or half volley length to drive.
If the bowler has spotted you coming and drops his length back the obvious choice is a forward defensive. This means cutting out risky shots like cuts and square drives where your bat is away from your body and you are likely to miss it. The pull shot might be OK in some circumstances but the ball would have to be a terrible long hop for it still to be short when you are a yard or two down.
However you look at it, playing straight with good technique gives maximum return for the average club batsman.

You don't have to score runs

As I alluded to previously, sometimes it's prudent to block when coming down the track. This is the last resort as it gives the bowler a little win, but it's far superior to walking back to the pavilion after looking like a numpty.
When should you block?
• When you have misjudged the flight of the ball
• When the bowler has spotted you moving and has dropped his length back
• When you are not totally confident that you can make contact with an attacking stroke
You can use your bat or your pad; just get something in the way. It would take a brave umpire to give an LBW when you’re so far down. The take away message is this: While coming down the track is an aggressive move you are not obliged to smash the ball. Always have a backup plan to play a defensive shot if all else fails.

Practice, practice, practice
I saved the most important part to last. Everybody knows you need to practice to get better. All I ask you to think about when it comes to practice is this: Are you getting the most from it? To improve a skill you need to learn the correct technique, groove it through repetition then apply it under pressure. Have you gone through this process when coming down the wicket or are you winging it?
Remember, using your feet to spin is about reducing risk while scoring runs, not hitting and hoping. Having a technique you can trust is the most important part of playing spin. You can only get that through deliberate practice or blind luck. I know which one I would prefer.

What does this all boil down to?

If you follow the above tips, you’re not only improving your chances of scoring runs against spin bowlers, but you’re improving your confidence. So much batting is done in your head. If you can play without fear then coming down the wicket becomes an easy to implement tactic.

3. Sweep

Sweeping is a riskier way to score against tight spin bowling because you’re playing across the line, which is why it's third in your list of options.
If the mid on and mid off are back and the ring fielders are tying you down then the sweep is a handy option to manipulate the field.
It's best played against a bowler pitching the ball on or outside leg stump with the ball turning away (for example left arm over to a right hander) because LBW is out of the picture.
You can also sweep to the ball turning in if you hit it square.
If you are right handed the riskiest sweep is the off spinner bowling around the wicket (for left handers the risk is the left arm round bowler). This is because if the ball straightens and hits you in line you are likely to be out LBW.

4. Improvise

If you are looking to score quickly and off almost every ball (say at the death of a one day innings) you must take risks, however you can still look to score in safer areas, even when you’re hitting sixes.
One way of doing this is the modern "forward press" of taking a small step onto your front foot just before the delivery. This means you have the option to move down the wicket and hit straight, or rock back and go really deep in the crease on the back foot and drive or pull.
To the ball moving away you also have the option of cutting and late cutting safely if you are deep in the crease.
Other improvising options are:

Ball turning in: Move the front leg out to the leg side, opening yourself up to hit the ball over mid on or midwicket if it's full, or square leg if it's on a length with a slog sweep.
Ball turning away: If the line is leg side you can sweep or slog sweep the ball over midwicket. A straighter line means you can move down the wicket and hit with the spin over extra cover, going 'inside out'.
The trick to playing spin well is to not try and move up the hierarchy unless you have to. If you can score at the required rate by sticking with number 1 then why take additional risks?
This is especially true if you have little practice time against decent spin. Focus on the basics of 1 and 2 then, if you have more time, start practicing 3 and 4.

Mike Schofield