Away teams in both divisions of next summer’s County Championship will be given the option to bowl first or have a traditional coin toss before the start of play in a season-long trial announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Thursday.
The innovative tweak to the existing toss was originally intended for testing in Division Two matches but following a debate during the ECB board meeting at Lord’s it was decided that top flight fixtures in 2016 should also adopt it.
It is hoped that by giving visiting captains the option to bowl first, county teams will be less inclined to produce seam-friendly ‘result’ pitches, thus meaning games could go deeper to allow spinners to come more into the equation.
The ECB is concerned by the lack of spinners being produced in the county game, while believing that so-called ‘green-top’ surfaces are rewarding medium pacers too much and leaving batsmen ill-equipped for the rigours of international cricket when they make the step up.
Peter Wright, the chairman of the ECB’s cricket committee that devised the concept, said: “Figures show that spinners bowled only 21.5% of the overs in the 2015 Championship and we have come to the conclusion that the only way to bring spin bowlers more into the game is to provide better pitches for them to bowl on.
“Of course counties want to win matches, and that generally means taking 20 wickets. That has to be a reason we have seen a lot of pitches that start a bit green and damp, and get better as the game goes on, rather than deteriorating to help the spinners.
“But another main function of the County Championship is to develop players for England. We don’t think it has been serving that purpose for spinners. By giving the away team the option of bowling first, we hope the home side will be encouraged to produce the best possible four-day pitch.
“That will be good for cricket in general, and not only for spinners: batsmen should also benefit, from better pitches which will lead to them facing more spin bowling; and if pitches start drier, the ball may scuff up a bit more and produce more reverse swing.”
As well as the change to the toss, the ECB has announced that, from next season, all professional cricketers will be required to wear a helmet when batting, against both pace and spin, with wicketkeepers similarly obliged to do so when standing up to the stumps.
