Saturday, September 16, 2006

Cut-and-choose One Day toss

Losing the toss often inflicts too great a disadvantage in one day cricket, especially for a team batting first on dewy morning grass or second under lights.

Instead, the toss should be a 'cut-and-choose' system: the loser cuts, the winner chooses.

For instance, the losing captain might be allowed to deduct up-to 5 overs from either innings. He would offer this 'cut' to the winning captain, who chooses when to bat.

Clearly, there is a strong incentive for the losing captain to divide the innings such that the winning captain does not gain advantage by his choice.

This should reduce the number of unexciting, and unfair, one-day games.