Taking the helm

Chigsy's ill so tomorrow I'll be skippering the 4ths. It'll be the 4th match I've captained, assuming the weather isn't as advertised, and so far I have the rather unfortunate record of played three, lost three. To be fair, one was a tour game, and in another I only had 8 players to play with and we did surprisingly well. It's 1:30am as once again I can't sleep. I'm not sure I'm cut out for this captaincy lark as every time I do it I find myself endlessly agonising over what decisions I'm going to make.

My biggest headache tonight is batsmen as, to be perfectly frank, we haven't really got any. I don't know where they've all gone, but we've been batting-light all season and tomorrow I'm in charge of 11 players none of whom have ever scored a 50. I do have a couple who can hit a ball, but that's not batting. They're like a prizefighter who packs a mighty punch but who simply can't box. If I open with them, I risk us getting off on entirely the wrong foot, and if I don't open with them, then with who? One thing I have decided is that I won't be batting at 11 this time, as it gives me no chance to meaningfully influence the innings.

Moving on to bowling, I've got two reasonably solid performers in Sam and Dan, Andy's not too bad, there's myself, and three juniors of varying degrees of ability and confidence. There's also Pete, but his bowling is reliable only in so much as it's always equal portions of devastating and dreadful. Keeping shouldn't be a worry as Steve is back and he's a lot more solid than he appears. One of my flaws in previous matches has been a reluctance to bowl myself and keep myself on, so I'm steeling myself for as many overs as my dodgy knee can take, once the openers have taken the shine off, but we'll see if once again I weaken in the heat of battle.

As for the toss, no great dilemmas there. I called heads once and lost, and since then tails has won for me both times. The problems come after, deciding whether to bat first (popular with the team) or not (probably the more sensible option). Obviously, I have no idea what the wicket is like, or what covers they have, never having even been to the ground before, but I do know the forecast is for sprinklings of rain all afternoon. What did Churchill say about having worried about many things in his life, many of which never happened? It's quite possible I'm doing my head in about a game that won't actually be played. In the end I'll probably decide (assuming its my decision to make) based on whether I think the outfield is going to dampen more or dry out over the course of the match, with a preference to bowl first so that we're batting with a target in sight.

Anyway, wish me luck. I'm going to need it...