To misquote Dickens, they are the best of times they are the worst of times -- semi-finals.

Win them and you have a glorious day out to look forward to, the chance to finish a season in style; lose them and you're just so much flotsam and jetsam of a cricket season.

Remember last year's losing semi-finalists? Well, maybe we Worcestershire supporters prefer to forget the anti-climax which was our B&H semi at Chelmsford.

I played in three losing ones, two in one season, before we finally made it to Lord's in 1988 only to lose the toss and the match effectively before midday.

There was another losing final in 1990 against Lancashire before we gained revenge the following year to break the County's duck in knock-out finals.

In those days it seemed to be always Lancashire that we were playing in one big game or another.

And now they're back for another semi at New Road with a different team, but if things go well, I'm sure we'll hear the same chant of lanky, lanky, lanky, lanky, Lankyshire. How that sound grates on my ears!

The new format for this season has meant that two months will have elapsed since the quarter-final - two months in which Lancashire have opted for Carl Hooper over Harbhajan Singh, Graeme Hick's broken hand has mended, Glen Chapple has emerged as an all-rounder, Ben Smith has started scoring runs again while James Anderson and Vikram Solanki have featured on the front of The Cricketer magazine under the heading, 'The Boys of Summer'.

There has certainly been a lot of time for expectations and excitement to develop.

I wonder whether one of these two young men will seize the day as they have illuminated the international one-day scene? Or will it be one of the myriad other stars in this truly titanic clash?

In the last of my nine semi-finals, it was a giant of Olympian status, Wasim Akram, who scented gold and stole a match we appeared to have had won.

On that day the winning hit slithered through my fumbling hands at short third man, leaving me to grasp firmly the emptiness of defeat, a bright tomorrow dashed and gone.

The previous year had produced the opposite emotions as we had won two semis, the second of which at The Oval was particularly memorable.

As I took an early look at the pitch, I remarked that it did not look the usual flat Oval pitch. 700 runs later I was happy we had won, if somewhat embarrassed by my earlier comments!

Tom Moody was the giant who bestrode that particular game, adopting a baseball stance to smite Surrey's bowlers to all parts.

Yet his greatest contribution came when he plucked the penultimate ball of the match out of the air, preventing it going for the six which would have left Surrey needing just four off the last ball.

Such things can turn a game and there are many players on both sides capable of such brilliance, of seizing the moment.

Yet as my namesake Ben showed in the British Open every dog has his day. Let's hope it's one coached by Tom Moody and not Mike Watkinson, my opposing captain back in 1995.