LANCASHIRE spinner Gary Keedy very quickly developed a master strategy when plans for a new format called Twenty20 cricket were unveiled back in 2002 - go on holiday to Spain.

That is how convinced the 32 year-old left-armer was that he would be left out in the cold by the new form of the game. But now he is almost the first name on cricket manager Mike Watkinson's team sheet because spin has become such a deadly weapon.

"I hadn't played that much one-day cricket, so I made a bit of a standing joke in the dressing room that I would go and have three weeks in Spain," he said.

"I did actually miss the first year (in 2003), but then people proved that spinners had quite a crucial role in the game. Since I have played, I have done ok, and I haven't been to Spain."

Keedy has done a bit better than ok. Before the 2007 competition began, he had a more than acceptable economy rate of 6.45 with 23 wickets. This year he has four wickets at a magnificent 4.66 - making him the most parsimonious bowler.

"It's a game in which you have just got to accept that you are going to get hit. I believe that I am only one game away from getting whacked all over the place," he continued.

"But I also believe that on your day you can pick wickets up and not go for many runs. It can make the batsmen look stupid really.

"If we bowl first I try and go for under 30 (runs in four overs), and if we bowl second then I try to go under the rate. If they need 12 an over and I go for 11 then I have done my job."

The Wakefield-born star will be back in action on Thursday when Lancashire travel to Derbyshire for the penultimate North Group game. The Red Rose should need just one more win to qualify for the quarter-finals.