The slog-over specialists in the IPL

IPL 2009 has placed much greater demands on batsmen, with the pitches and overhead conditions offering a lot more to the bowlers. Batsmen have had to play with much more caution in the first six overs, while the slow bowlers have been able to strangle the batting and get wickets in the middle overs. The one period of play when batsmen have been relatively dominant is the last six overs, when teams with wickets in hand have been able to turn on the heat: on an average teams have scored at about nine an over in the last six, which still isn't as good as last year - the average then was 9.75 - but it's significantly better than the run-rates in the other sets of overs.

What the table below shows is that several teams have figured out how to score in the last six overs - six out of eight teams have scored at more than or around nine runs per over. Delhi are the only team, though, to combine that with an average of more than 20 runs per wicket. They've been terrific with the ball as well, taking 47 wickets, the most by any team during the last six.

Kolkata have got most things wrong during this IPL, but the one trick they managed to master was scoring runs in the last six - they were particularly effective in this aspect in their last few matches. Against Deccan, in the heartbreaker they lost off the last ball, they scored 82; against Bangalore they scored 76, while Punjab leaked 75 in another last-ball thriller, and Chennai went for 65 in a match Kolkata, quite miraculously, won. In fact, the only team to score more than 82 in the last six was Rajasthan, when they got 83 against Punjab in the game in which they got 211.

The batsman who leads the way in the last six is Delhi's AB de Villiers: in 90 deliveries he has scored 181 runs - 66 of those came in 23 balls against Chennai, when he scored his century - at a strike-rate of more than two runs per ball. Ross Taylor isn't far behind, while Brad Hodge is largely responsible for Kolkata's strong show with the bat in the slog overs. Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma are the top three Indians in the list, and all three have a strike-rate of more than 10 runs per over.

The seamers have done most of the bowling in the last six overs, but spinners have had plenty of success as well - in the 1063 deliveries they've bowled, spinners have conceded fewer runs per over, and at a much better average as well.

Lasith Malinga has been outstanding in the tournament, and he has been lethal during the final overs, taking 13 of his 18 wickets during this period. Delhi's Rajat Bhatia lacks the pace and the swing of Malinga, but that hasn't stopped him from taking seven wickets in 64 deliveries, at an economy-rate of less than six and a half. Anil Kumble and Pragyan Ojha lead the way among the spinners, while Ashish Nehra, the second bowler from Delhi in the list, has an excellent average and economy-rate as well. Those two have largely been instrumental in Delhi's performance with the ball during the last six overs.

England have probably gone into the ODI series against West Indies as slight favourites, but the visitors will fancy themselves more in this format, especially against a side that hasn't always exploited home advantage the way some other teams have. Over the last five years and more, England's ODI record against the top teams (excluding Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and other non-Test-playing teams) at home isn't that flash: only 19 wins in 48 games, with 24 losses. The win-loss ratio of 0.79 is among the poorest for the top eight teams - only West Indies themselves have done worse. During this period they've only won three out of 11 series/ tournaments. They beat South Africa by an impressive 4-0 margin last year - after losing the Test series - but before that, in five earlier events, the winners had been Sri Lanka, New Zealand (twice), West Indies and Australia.

In contrast, South Africa, who lead the table, have won 31 out of 44 games, and each of the nine series they've played during this period.