ECB may scrap the toss in County Championship Division Two

The toss could be scrapped in County Championship Division Two matches next season under proposals being considered by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The ECB's executive board will discuss the plan on Thursday after it was recommended by its cricket committee.

If it is approved a one-year trial will take place in 2016 to try to improve pitches and encourage spin bowlers.

The away team would choose whether to bat, bowl or still have a toss if the pitch condition was uncertain.

The toss will remain in County Championship Division One and domestic limited-overs cricket.

It was mentioned in the first recorded laws of cricket in 1744 when the team winning the flip of the coin would have the choice of which pitch to use as well as whether to bat or bowl first.

The ECB believes many matches in Division Two are decided by the toss because home teams are producing pitches to suit their bowlers.

However, no team in the County Championship has been deducted points for preparing a poor pitch since 2011.

I think the toss before the game starts as been a huge debate in England for some time now, and I'm not surprised they are looking at different ways on how to decide the play.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but when the toss at the start of the match can pretty much decide how that match will turn out, something definitely needs to be done.

Previously, we ran the numbers looking at the winning percentage for teams that won the toss over the last 3 years. While teams that win the toss do have a better winning percentage than teams that lose the toss, the difference isn't as wide as one might expect. Over the last 3 years, teams winning the toss have won 52 matches and lost 45. The bigger discrepancy is teams winning at home - over this same period, teams at home have won 62 matches and lost just 25.

Whether winning or losing the toss, teams playing away from home are almost incapable of winning Test matches. Over the last three-years, South Africa are the only team with a winning record in away Test matches - and they are currently getting their lunch handed to them in India.

In an effort to eliminate small sample sizing, I went back and took a look at all the Test matches that have produced a result since the very first Test in 1877. Of these 1397 Test matches, teams winning the toss have won 53% of the matches. The batting average of players in the side winning the toss was, at 32.81, 1.41 runs higher than the team losing the toss at 31.40.

True, but the commentators keep saying that the toss has been decisive in those matches. Despite this, Vernon Philander, who is out of the series due to injury, said in the South African TV studio that he believes the toss should remain part of the game. It would be interesting to know what proportion of players agree with him.

I was curious to see how opposing teams have fared in India when winning and losing the toss. Over the last 10 years, India have lost the toss 23 times at home. In those 23 matches, they have still gone on to win 16 matches, drawn 6 and lost only 1 - to South Africa in 2010.

Over that same period, India have also won the toss 23 times at home. In those 23 matches, they have won 10 matches, drawn 8 and lost 4 - the 23rd match is currently taking place against South Africa and as such, there is no result as of yet.

When winning the toss, India have elected to bat first 20 times out of the 23 times. Conversely, and perhaps not surprisingly, opposing teams winning the toss have elected to bat first on all 23 occasions.

Rather interestingly, over the last decade, India have actually fared better when losing the toss at home.

The game in England is probably slightly unique aswell with the way the weather is, and even in the height of summer your lucky to be able to get more than 3 days worth of play out of 5 day test.

That can also affect the toss, and if a captain wins it, no matter what the pitch is like, you pretty much know that if you get a half decent score and bat till the end of the day, the least you'll get out of the game will be a draw

Add Darren Lehmann to the list of voices believing that the toss should be scrapped:

www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/947805.html

A groundsman preparing a pitch to suit the home  team seems to have been going on since cricket began. That isn't to say it's right of course but it seems to have been one of the things that's been overlooked.

I think in the interest of the game and fairness it does need to be stopped and I think more and more people are starting to think that was also.

ESPNCricInfo took another look at the merits of awarding the visiting team the toss:

It is an exhaustive read, but provides a lot of context, and supports my previous analysis in this thread that winning the toss provides little, to no advantage.

www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/964039.html