"It's a game of two halves" - Zoob, 2001

The waterlogged condition of our own back pitch during the run-up to the new season made it necessary for us to venture across London for our first fixture of 2001. The early omens were not good as a combination of traffic jams, a concealed entrance to the ground and confusing directions from locals meant that we took the field in Esher on a blisteringly hot afternoon with only seven of our own team. However, Zoob's faith in the tenacity of his players proved justified as the balance of the side soon emerged commando-like from a corner of the ground, having ditched their cars in favour of an approach on foot.

On a slow but reasonably true pitch, our new ball attack of Munro and Smith bowled accurately but without reward against Mitcham's opening pair, who confidently took the score along to 86 without loss. It was around this point that, with a total well in excess of 200 on the cards despite wholehearted efforts in the field, our part-time soothsayer Zoob uttered the immortal words "It's a game of two halves". While we all acknowledged the literal truth of his statement, none of us realised at the time the prophetic wisdom that it conveyed.

It was the introduction of Baker into the attack that brought about the downfall of both openers - the first to a juggled catch by Smith and the second playing an ambitious sweep shot to a straight ball. Baker then snared another victim in short order, and suddenly we all realised that the Mitcham innings had entered its second, and contrasting, half. Two more good catches by Owen and Zoob followed (off Baker - who else?) and it was only the introduction of Chapman to bowl in tandem that prevented Baker from emulating Jim Laker, as the last five wickets tumbled to a variety of shots played too early or too late. In all, 10 wickets fell for just 53 runs, leaving Mitcham 139 all out.

During the tea interval, we pondered this turn of events along with the news that Liverpool had overcome Arsenal in the FA Cup Final. We agreed that, despite our enterprise in restricting Mitcham to considerably less than we had expected earlier, 140 runs was still going to take some getting against a side who were obviously skilful, if slightly bewildered at their earlier collapse.

As expected, Mitcham's opening attack bowled cannily and denied easy runs to our openers. For a while, "Byes" was the top scorer as several deliveries kept low, underlining the value of Moore's tidy wicketkeeping when the same thing happened earlier in the afternoon. The pressure eventually told as first Goulston and then Marmion were castled after some bright strokes, Burcher suffered the same fate after looking sound in reconnaissance, and Moore edged behind trying to repeat one of his earlier productive drives. The score was now 29 for 4, and the pendulum had swung back towards Mitcham.

Owen had earlier been lecturing on the value of positive thinking, and proceeded to give a practical demonstration as he teamed first with Malik to drag the OAs back into contention (58 for 5) and then with Baker to hammer home the advantage (106 for 6). Odd things were afoot on the field as changes of wicketkeeper seemed to occur as often as changes of bowler, but to no avail for Mitcham as Owen responded to the departure of Baker with a volley of shots which brought up his fifty, and Smith briefly joined the party with a cameo knock. By the time Smith departed (134 for 7), it was just left to Zoob to complete the second and decisive "half" of the OA innings by hitting the winning run.

The obvious heroes of the day were Baker for his incisive bowling spell (proving once again that spin can turn a match) and Owen for his mature and positive innings (which even bore a strong resemblance to the one he described in the changing room afterwards). However, this was also a whole team effort, with contributions from all in terms of committed fielding, responsible batting, and marathon umpiring stints, all in the energy-sapping heat. Furthermore, it was an exciting, well-contested, and good-spirited affair. To quote another appropriate cliché, "cricket was the winner" once again.

Ian Chapman