New plan to scrap cricket coin toss

Cricket's traditional coin toss could be scrapped with away teams given the choice to bat first under a radical proposal being considered by powerbrokers.

The move, first mooted by Ricky Ponting in August, could be trialled in the UK with the England and Wales Cricket board investigating the proposal.

The plan is being considered as an avenue to improve pitches or eliminate doctoring – and to encourage spin bowlers, according to a report in the London Times.

The ECB will investigate trialling the move in second division County Championship matches with any trial expected to be closely monitored around the world, particularly at international level where home teams have a clear advantage  

The coin toss has been part of cricket since the game's inception, dating back to the first recorded laws published in 1744 when a team was given the choice of which pitch to use and whether to bat first.

The modern method of allowing the toss winner to decide whether to bat first was adopted in the early 1800s in England.

According to the report, the ECB is conducting the review amid concern that too many matches in second division county cricket are determined by the coin toss where home teams are producing pitches to suit their bowlers and gambling on being able to choose whether they bat and bowl first.

Ponting's call to scrap the coin toss came during the recent Ashes series in England when the home side produced flat pitches to try and nullify the impact of Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson.

His call was backed by West Indies great Michael Holding, who wrote two articles for Wisden India where he explained his reasons why the toss should be dropped.

"It’ll ensure better pitches throughout the world, because no one will look to build a pitch whose features are obvious, and which will give an immediate advantage to the visiting captain," Holding wrote.

"They will try and prepare good quality surfaces that give no obvious advantage to anyone, which is what you want in Test matches."

Holding said eliminating tosses would impact on the alrming trend where touring sides struggle to win away Test series.

 "You will still see a bit of ‘hometown’ pitches which suit the qualities of the home team more than the opposition, but the slant won’t be as dramatic as we tend to see in some countries now," he wrote.