In the sport of cricket, a coin is tossed to determine which team bats first. This is known as the toss.

Before play begins, the captain of each side will inspect the pitch. Based on the pitch and weather conditions, the captains select their final eleven players. If the pitch is soft or dusty, the captain will tend to select more spin bowlers; if the pitch is hard, the choice tends to favour fast bowlers at the expense of spinners.

Half an hour before the start of play, the two captains convene and exchange team selection sheets. These list the composition of each side, which cannot be changed for the duration of the match. Then, under the supervision of the umpires, a coin is tossed to determine who bats first. The tossing of the coin marks the official beginning of the match. If the match is abandoned at any time after the toss, it stands as a match played and enters official statistical records. If a match is abandoned before the toss, it is not considered to have been played at all, and does not count for records.

The captain who wins the toss gets the option either to bat or field. The decision to bat or field first is of great tactical importance, and the captain will have considered many variables before arriving at his decision. Because of the different natures of the games, it is considerably more common to bat second in one-day cricket than it is in Test cricket.

Batting first

If the team is uncertain about the nature of the pitch or simply wants to play safe, they bat first. If the opposition bowling is strong, batting first is a good option. Sometimes, the nature of the pitch deteriorates (i.e. makes batting difficult) as the game progresses. Hence batting first is a better option. Another advantage of batting first is that once you have got a total on board; the other team still has to chase it, and anything could happen once they chase.

However, the captain of a team that bats first and is scoring well in a first-class game may face a difficult decision as to when to declare. A captain who declares early risks being overtaken by the team batting second; a captain who declares late risks leaving his team with insufficient time to dismiss the other team, so suffering a draw despite having a high score. The team batting second rarely has to face this choice, although it may arise when they score exceptionally well in their first innings.

Batting second

The captain opts to bat second if he is confident that his team can successfully chase any total. Once the target is known, the team does not have to worry about setting a winnable score. The team just has to limit the opposition to a low score, and bat well to successfully chase the target. If the pitch does not deteriorate, batting second is usually a better option. Another advantage of batting second is during day-night One Day International games, played under lights. In tropical venues, the cricket ball collects a lot of dew in the outfield. This results in a poor grip on the ball by the bowlers. With a moist ball it is difficult to spin and swing the ball.

Influence of toss on outcome

Winning the toss provides a small, but significant improvement to a team's chances of winning.

Based on all Test matches played up to 27 December, 2006: {| class="wikitable" {| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;" |- bgcolor="#D8BFD8" color=white align="center" | width="120px" | Toss result | width="40px" | Win | width="40px" | Lose | width="40px" | Draw | width="40px" | Tie |- | Win toss | 34.7% | 29.6% | 35.6% | 0.1% |- | Lose toss | 30.8% | 33.6% | 35.5% | 0.1% |- |-}

Based on all one-day international matches played up to 27 December, 2006: {| class="wikitable" {| border="1" cellpadding="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;" |- bgcolor="#D8BFD8" color=white align="center" | width="120px" | Toss result | width="40px" | Win | width="40px" | Lose | width="40px" | Tie | width="40px" | No Result |- | Win toss | 49.1% | 46.9% | 0.9% | 0.3% |- | Lose toss | 47.3% | 48.7% | 0.9% | 0.3% |- |-}

Alternatives to The Toss

Losing The Toss provides the losing team with a pre-match excuse. More than the statistics, it is the perception of the benefits of winning The Toss.

Toss Once

One proposal is that there is only one toss at the beginning of a series. Then teams take turns to elect to bat or field. This would not work in a tournament such as The World Cup.

Visitor elects

Under this proposal given that the groundsman can influence the pitch to support the home team, the visiting team has the right to elect to bat or field. This would not work in a tournament such as The World Cup.

Replace The Toss with The Bid

This proposal is currently being studied by The Cricket Committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The two captains bid in runs for the right to elect to bat or field first. The team with the higher bid wins the right to elect.

The runs bid are awarded to the opposing side as Bid-Byes.

Bids should be for a minimum of Zero.

Should both captains bid the same number of runs then there will be a coin toss as currently but with the winner forfeiting the runs bid.

Example

Method 1 – closed bids

In a sealed envelope, the captain of Team A Bids 30 runs.

In a sealed envelope, the captain of Team B Bids 10 runs.

The captain of Team A has the right to elect to bat or field.

30 runs are awarded to Team B as bid byes.

If the sealed bids are tied then the coin is tossed. But the winner has the right to elect and the loser receives bid bye runs of the amount of the tied bids.

Method 2 - open auction

To create more theatre bids could be as in an open auction with the umpire asking for bids in jumps of 5 runs.

“Who bids 5 runs?

The captain of Team A raises his hand first.

Then to the captain of Team B the umpire asks: “Do you bid 10 runs?

If the captain of Team B answers “yes” to the captain of Team A the umpire asks: “Do you bid 15 runs?

And so on until a captain declines to bid more.

The winning captain has the right to elect to bat or field and the losing captain’s team receives bid bye runs of the amount of the bid.

Method 2 - open auction – provides more theatre and tension

External links

The Toss should be replaced by The Bid. Warren Edward's Blog 12 March 2007

The Toss should be replaced by The Bid. The Financial Times 19 May 1999