(Abstract from the forthcoming book: "The Joy of Captaincy")

Chapman's debut outing as skipper proved to be a memorable one for a variety of reasons. The precedent was not good: Chapman's previous attempt to run an OAs side two years ago was thwarted when the opposition team failed to materialise. There were no such concerns about this game: the fixture against the Flying Wickets is a long-standing tradition and one which is eagerly anticipated by all concerned. It was therefore puzzling that Zoob had chosen to bow out of this one. At least, it was puzzling at first…

A captain's preparations need to start a week before the match with the construction of the squad. As a novice at such things, Chapman was fortunate to be able to call upon the experienced Norcross ("It's a doddle - we need to drop a couple down from the seconds") and Boultbee ("We'll probably have enough players to run two third team sides"). However, the early part of the week proved to be more frantic than expected, as 'phone call after 'phone call failed to add to the nucleus of five players carried over from the previous game (and even these included Owen under duress).

Eventually, the numbers were bolstered as Franklin was located and called up, Marmion returned from an overseas trip and indicated his willingness to play, De Guingand was secured by an exchange of messages, and Ripman was persuaded to join the squad on condition that he didn't have to bowl. However, the identities of the two residual players remained stubbornly elusive. Norcross was clearly having trouble getting hold of some of his players but remained optimistic ("Azam and Qasim should be able to play, and we might let you have Ryder"). Despite this reassurance, Chapman's nerves were still fraying, and so a 'phone call to the Malik residency secured the services of an aspiring star - the young Farid Malik - as cover for any cry-offs.

The end of the week brought news of similar availability problems from Jeremy Moore at the Flying Wickets ("Can you lend us anybody? We only have nine.") and, finally, an e-mail from Norcross ("Qasim has cried off due to work and we need Ryder after all, but you can still have Azam"). Eleven, including the youngster - phew! At least the game itself wouldn't be as fraught as the preparations, thought Chapman naïvely.

There's nothing like the heart-warming feeling that a captain gets when his painstaking planning during the week is rewarded by the arrival of eleven players, fully equipped and ready in ample time for the start. However, Chapman's feeling at 1.50pm on this particular Saturday was more akin to heart-burn, as an extraordinary combination of circumstances meant that the toss took place with only six OA third team players at the ground. Ijaz Malik had advised during the week that he was likely to be delayed on his way back from an airport run, and so his absence was expected - but worse news followed. Ahmed arrived with information that Azam had fallen ill at the start of the weekend and would not be able to play. Franklin had to rush off to collect his bat - he had arrived at the club earlier for a quick reconnaissance but had instead been press-ganged by Boultbee into fielding as substitute for the firsts. Most bizarrely, Owen 'phoned in to say that he was surrounded by riot police in Rotherhithe. We briefly wondered what he might have said to whom, but agreed that this outcome was a gross over-reaction even to one of his more acidic witticisms.

There was only one hope to avoid humiliation at this stage: win the toss and bat. Chapman strode out into the sunshine with Moore and duly flipped a pound coin into the air where it seemed to hang for an eternity (like one of his donkey drops), spinning vigorously as Moore called "Heads", and finally came to rest on the turf with the profile of the Queen uppermost. "Well, since we're all here…", said Moore with a twinkle in his eye, "… we'll have a bowl".

With only seven of the team present, even batting first presents tricky logistics, but somehow we got underway just after 2.15pm, by which time Owen had extricated himself from the traffic chaos. A pragmatic re-shuffle of the batting order saw Ripman and Marmion opening together for the first time ever, with Chapman and De Guingand set for long umpiring stints if both openers prospered. As it turned out, the new pairing was broken after just three balls as the Flying Wickets' stalwart Jones produced a good swinging delivery which broke through Ripman's defences.

Baker joined Marmion rather earlier than he would have liked, and the pair set their sights on batting sensibly for a while, not least due to the absence of an obvious number four batsman on the sidelines until Franklin could return with his bat. They continued to post fifty on the board after twenty overs - slowish progress but, importantly, avoiding any further loss, and allowing Franklin and Ijaz Malik time to arrive.

The introduction into the attack of the strangely familiar Tambyraja proved to be the turning point for the Flying Wickets, as first Baker and then his successor, Franklin, were quickly lured into putting the ball in the air to reduce us to 56 for three. Owen then partnered Marmion in a staunch stand of 39 runs to take us close to the hundred before a mis-hit ended his promising knock and brought Tambyraja another wicket. Meanwhile, the champagne moment of the OA innings came when Marmion brought up his much-deserved maiden fifty - a fine effort which gave us a fighting chance in the match.

Ijaz Malik arrived at the crease to replace Owen but did not last long as Tambyraja continued his dominance. Chapman joined Marmion hoping to play a captain's knock, but his mind was clearly on matters other than batting as he came down late on his third ball and played on. Further disaster followed as Marmion fell in desperation, trying to push the score on, and it was left to De Guingand to add a few more runs - a memorable moment being his hoisted four over mid-wicket. He was ably supported by Farid Malik, who looked composed and solid against authentic bowling, despite being dwarfed by the surrounding close fielders. However, the subsequent loss of De Guingand and Ahmed in quick succession meant that we finished well below par at 119 all out.

Over the interval, Chapman sought to emulate the England team management's investment in the future by inviting his children (both potential cricketers?) into the tea-room to meet the players and sample the atmosphere. They received a warm welcome despite their tender ages of five and two years.

Ripman had originally wanted to save his bowling energies for a game the following day, but a plea from Chapman forced him to reconsider his decision and "just bowl one or two overs" to support De Guingand and restore the balance of the bowling attack in the absence of Azam.

By the time we returned to the field, the weather conditions had worsened considerably, with rain showers rolling across the ground to make batting, fielding and umpiring uncomfortable. Nonetheless, both sides chose to brave the elements as the artificial wicket appeared unaffected and the conditions did not appear to become dangerous.

The opening over from De Guingand was an exemplary piece of accurate swing bowling, but nevertheless went for twelve runs as successive edges found their way past the slips and down the hill to the boundary. Bad luck, perhaps - but the early accuracy was encouraging, the ball was swinging, and everyone in the field was 100% committed. Ripman roared up the hill and also hit a perfect line and length, re-discovering his missing out-swinger as he did so. Game on - the Flying Wickets were not going to have it easy!

We persevered with our attacking off-side field and watched proudly as our pace duo continued to bowl to it. Pride then turned to joy as unremitting accuracy and movement off the wicket led to a succession of errors by the batsmen - four wickets to Ripman and one to De Guingand (who was unlucky not to grab more). The Flying Wickets' captain, Moore, drew great credit by opting to walk after Owen, supported by all of the close catchers, confidently claimed a catch behind off a thin edge but the umpire appeared unconvinced.

Normally, with five wickets captured before fifty is on the board, we would reckon the match to be ours - but 120 is the sort of target which can still be reached given a good partnership or two. Indeed, the sixth wicket pair at first held firm, and then started to re-build the innings with ominous certainty. Chapman chose to rest Ripman and continue with De Guingand, but a further breakthrough proved elusive for some time despite the introduction of Ahmed, who bowled his spin with precision despite the soggy conditions.

Sometimes inspiration can come by accident. Having deployed his other fielders as planned for an over from Ahmed, Chapman found himself without an obvious fielding position and so, to save time, settled in at silly mid-on. Two balls later, the left-handed batsman punched a ball down towards the ground, but straight in front of Chapman, who quickly swooped forward to take a remarkable catch. The door was open again!

The exhausted De Guingand was retired from the attack and Ahmed was swapped to the top end via a frugal over from Franklin to enable Baker to bowl from his favourite end, but the Flying Wickets continued their steady and determined progress towards their target. A good catch by Marmion at point off Baker removed another batsman, but the arrival of the big-hitting Jones spelled further danger.

As the hundred neared, Ripman was brought back to pair up with Baker in a final bid for victory, and he struck quickly to take the penultimate wicket as Franklin dived to his left and picked up a superb catch. Baker clearly fancied his chances of removing Tambyraja quickly, but failed to do so, instead conceding two precious boundaries. At the other end, Ripman was striving for a further breakthrough but was unable to reproduce his earlier cutting edge. Jones was striking out to good effect, despite surviving a confident appeal by Owen for a stumping off Baker, and brought the excitement to a head with a lofted drive which forced long-off over the boundary as he sought to take the catch - six runs!

With the well-set Jones on strike against Baker, and just three runs needed for the Flying Wickets to win, we seemed to be staring right down the barrel. A lengthy conference between the captain and his senior players produced an invaluable insight: "We need to get him out".

The next ball brought a climactic end to a remarkable match. But, in a way, it didn't matter who won, as both sides had given their all in a good-spirited and closely-fought contest. The old cliché was appropriate once again: "cricket was the winner".

Ian Chapman

P.S. Okay… I'll explain what happened to that fateful last ball. Baker bowled a straight full-toss which Jones attempted to swing through mid-wicket for four. However, instead of watching the ball hurtle to the boundary, we saw it crash into the middle stump. The poor Welshman must be having recurring nightmares about that shot. They're probably similar to the ones that I have been having about the perils of captaincy. But I expect I'll try it again…