A couple of examples where the captain’s decision made a difference.

1. 3rd grade semi-final Randwick Petersham v Bankstown, April 2004
Bankstown were chasing a reasonable total and at 5 down a young and talented batter, Small (not sure of his first name, not Steve) started to get on top. Our off spinner, Chad Greenburg got hit for a few fours and Small looked like taking the game away from us. My senior player Dave Townsend (a very good former 1st grade captain) gave me the nod, “get him off”.
Chad had bowled well but was tiring. I told Chad he had one more over no matter what, get us a wicket. The batter went after him, hit a couple of fours, but then missed one, and got stumped. It was risky but showed faith in him and he delivered. It was still Chad’s last over, but it changed the game, and we went on to win.

2. 2nd grade final Randwick Petersham v Sydney, April 2005
In a 3-day game, our team was up by around 70 on the first innings. Sydney were struggling a bit in their second innings until Neil Maxwell came to the crease. He was a former state player and still a high-quality batter. At 5 down, Sydney was close to getting ahead. We had an in-out field and Maxie was starting to pick off singles and 2’s at will.
I changed to a ring field, put my best fielder (Michael Watson) at cover and said, just stop the single. The fielders did a great job, drying up the singles, forcing Neil to change his game, and in trying to hit through mid-wicket, got caught. It was a key wicket, Sydney folded and that led to an outright win for us.