25 Nov 2015 | Cricket
The toss could be scrapped in Division Two of the County Championship next year in a one-year experiment by the England and Wales Cricket Board aimed at improving pitches and encouraging spin bowlers.
News sources are reporting the ECB's executive board will meet on Thursday to discuss the idea of eliminating the toss and handing the away team the choice to bat or bowl first.
If approved, the move would be trialed for one season in 2016 in Division Two of the County Championship in an attempt to improve the quality of pitches and provide more opportunities for spin bowlers.
The away team would choose whether to bat, bowl or still have a toss if the pitch condition was uncertain and the toss will remain in County Championship Division One and domestic limited-overs cricket.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting previously suggested the idea of abolishing the toss from Test cricket to deny home curators the chance to prepare pitches that suit the hosts. Ponting's predecessor Steve Waugh agreed, but added the importance of the toss is often exaggerated.
I don't mind that, I think that's not such a bad thing, Waugh told Melbourne radio station SEN in September.
At the end of the day I think there's probably too much emphasis placed on the toss and the conditions away from home.
I don't mind the authorities looking at some other options.
In county cricket, the tendency to condition pitches to suit the home team's bowling attack is often prevalent.
At Chelmsford (the home ground of Essex) the pitches are as green as the outfield because they think that gives them the best chance of winning through guys like David Masters and Jesse Ryder, former England and Surrey batsman Kevin Pietersen wrote in The Telegraph.
That is understandable, but it does not help in the long run.
Ryder and Masters running in and bowling at 75mph on a green top simply does not help England.
It does not benefit the batters either because you do not face those kinds of bowlers at Test level. This is happening all around the county circuit.
During the four-day county championship in 2015, only 21.5 per cent of overs were bowled by spinners, with that number falling to lower than 10 per cent in home matches of Division Two teams.