We are getting to the business end of both the World Cup and our fantasy league. Personally, I've been a little bit slack in rounds 5 and 6 and due to work commitments forgot to update my team in time which means I have some serious catching up to do if I'm to win. However, it's great to see that most players have stuck with the league and are enjoying the competition.

@sixx wrote an excellent guide on how to get the most from your fantasy team earlier in the week. To add to that, it seems obvious that we are seeing something of a change to the pitches and playing conditions as the tournament progresses. While the early part of the World Cup saw greener pitches and overcast conditions, the summer seems to finally have arrived in England with temperatures going above 30C (pretty hot for this part of the world) yesterday. That hot dry weather looks likely to continue and alongside the fact that most matches are now being played on used pitches, it means that spin is becoming a much bigger factor.

A case in point would be yesterday's match at Lord's where between them Aaron Finch, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson bowled 10 overs of part-time spin finishing with the very handy figures of 2-38. At present, the top 5 scoring out and out bowlers are all pacemen and while I'm not suggesting that these guys will stop scoring points (they are all excellent strike bowlers), I think we will see wicket taking spinners begin to have more of an influence on matches from here on out.

So round 8 is upon us and the fixtures are listed below. The keen-eyed amongst you will notice that India play twice while South Africa are not involved. One thing to note as the playoffs draw closer is that you needn't worry about trying to anticipate who will appear in the semi-finals and therefore trying to stack your side with players from those teams because you will get unlimited transfers from round 10 onwards. Personally, I think that system oversimplifies the whole selection process. One of the best things about selecting a good fantasy team is trying to anticipate not only who is going to score you points in a specific round but also what your plans are for the next couple of rounds thereafter. Dream 11 though doesn't seem to agree and have gone with the more accessible option of letting managers make wholesale changes.

Results and Prizes for the last 3 rounds are below

@birjudanak - 15SCR + 15SCR + 15SCR = 45SCR

@shivamg - 10SCR + 10SCR + 10SCR = 30SCR

@jpm8341 - 5SCR

@jayrajbhatt - 5SCR

@philnewton - 5SCR