Who gives a toss? I’m in favour of England cricket scrapping it
England cricket bosses will tomorrow discuss scrapping the coin toss at the beginning of domestic matches in a bid to improve the consistency of pitches and encourage spin bowling. I am all in favour of the proposal.
If the plan is enacted, a one-year trial will ensue during the 2016 season where no toss will take place in Division Two of the County Championship and the away team will be given the automatic choice of whether to bat or bowl first.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has presumably grown concerned that there is too much emphasis on the toss and that it determines too many matches, while a high proportion of Championship games are not lasting four days.
My former Surrey and England team-mate Kevin Pietersen has mentioned Essex’s pitch at Chelmsford in this argument and he is right.
They tend to leave it so green that the team which loses the toss is almost certain to be under the cosh at the crease before the pitch flattens out — a distinct case of the toss having a massive influence on the result.
The current arrangement allows home teams to produce result pitches to suit their own strengths. A greater consistency in pitches would result in a fairer contest between bat and ball, which can only be good for the game.
But while I’m in favour of the proposal, I cannot see why it is set to the trialled in Division Two only. It is almost mocking the standard of Division Two. Why not implement it in both divisions?
Returning to the issue itself, the current situation with pitches also has a massive knock on effect internationally. Because pitches here tend to be so green, a lot of spinners up and down the country are not getting much of a bowl in Championship cricket.
Spinners are becoming marginalised and as a nation we are really struggling to produce top-notch slow bowlers, so better quality and more consistent pitches would hopefully bring them more into play and in turn benefit the international side.
The situation also means that domestic batsmen are not being exposed to high-level spin bowling, an art they will face in Test cricket should they progress through the ranks. England’s recent series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates is testament to that.
This applies across the board and essentially results in English county players not being exposed to the pitches or the facets of the game which they would be in the international arena.