THE TOSS IN TEST MATCHES [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—Although there are few lovers of the game who would uphold unnecessary tinkering with the rules of cricket, it seems open to argument whether the time has not come for some amendment in the matter of the toss, at any rate so far as the always protracted Test Matches in Australia are con- cerned. To win the toss, and with it the option to bat first on those elaborately prepared and altogether wonderful Australian wickets, confers on the batting side an inordinate advantage, not only in the first use of a perfect pitch, but ultimately in the fact that the losers of the toss are, more often than not, compelled in these prolonged contests to play the fourth innings of the match on damaged wickets, for even the best prepared of the flint-hard Australian pitches begin to crumble after some five days of incessant wear and tear.
The losers of the toss thus bear the brunt of a double handi- cap, and although the luck of the toss is just one of the many delightful uncertainties associated with cricket, these long- drawn-out and highly important International contests seem to require a revision of the regulations. Why should not the toss be confined to the first match, and thereafter each side take alternately the option of first innings until the completion of the series ? Such procedure would at least preclude a persistent spell of ill-luck in the spin of the coin (and the attendant consequences) such as the English captain has experienced in the three recent Test Matches, and has more than once been the lot of an Australian captain in the past. It would tend to make a rubber of Test Matches more of a real test.
Although this letter is inspired by the cricket occurrences in Australia of the last few weeks, it is not written because the sun is quenched in my heaven at the course of events, but solely with the object of suggesting what seems to be a reform likely to work for the good of " the greatest of all games," at any rate in International Test Matches.—I am, Sir, &c.,
179 Lordher Mansions, Barnes. F. C. YARDLEY.
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