Death overs

The death overs are the final overs of a limited-overs innings, usually the last four or five of a T20 and the last ten of an ODI, when the batting side attacks every ball.

Wickets in hand have no value once the innings ends, so batters at the death take on deliveries they would leave alone earlier. Fifteen or twenty runs an over is normal; fifty from the last three is not unusual. The batters who thrive here are finishers: players who can clear the rope from ball one and who read the required run rate rather than their own average.

Bowling at the death is a specialist skill. The yorker at the base of the stumps is the stock ball, backed by slower balls, wide lines with a packed off-side field, and the occasional bouncer to stop the batter stepping to the leg side. Captains save their best death bowlers' overs for this phase, which means holding them back in the middle overs even when they are bowling well. A death bowler's economy of eight is worth more than a middle-overs economy of six.

In Masterstroke: you choose the plan for every ball, yorker, stock ball, bouncer or wide line, then the intent and the effort behind it.