Toss - a vital aspect in cricket

by A.C. de Silva

FLASHBACK: It can be an important factor, but at times in cricket is sometimes a godsend to lose it. This is when your faith has to be placed in the sometimes helpful, but unreliable weather forecasters.

Take for instance the 1972 England series against Australia and it was somewhat made doubly difficult for England captain Ray Illingworth because of the climate.

Illingworth won four tosses in that series, but would have been glad to have lost them. He was forced into a number of gambles he did not relish taking. In the first Test at Old Trafford, for instance, England had to play on a green grassy wicket with rain forecast on the first day. Calculating the rain factor, Illingworth decided to bat first.

Contrary to expectations, the weather stayed dry, but overcast. Whether it was devine retribution it was not certain, but the rain lashed down within around three-mile radius of the ground. Those circumstances could easily have been fatal, but Australia did not exploit the helpful conditions and England won the match by 89 runs.

Judging a pitch is one of the captain's most difficult tasks. The captain's thinking must be logical. Generally speaking you can expect to play on four types of pitches in England. The really fast bowlers pray for is a hard surface covered by green strongly-rooted grass. This should have pace and bounce, and the ball will seam off the grass. No one likes to lose the toss in such circumstances, because you will be lucky to escape being put in. That usually condemns you to a first innings struggle, especially if conditions are overcast.

A similarly firm surface, but covered by brown or strawcoloured grass, is also liable to aid the new-ball bowler. Yet because the grass does not contain the same moisture as our first example, it will not seam.

Spinners go through the whole process of emotion from hope to despair when confronted by a square the is covered by a small amount of grass which has strong roots. It is deceptive.

The final category, increasingly rare in England is stripped bare of grass with a surface a kin to that of baked mud. The break-up of such a pitch, precipitated by the fast bowlers pounding the ball onto it, can be relied upon to start during the second day.

Countless pitches on the Indian subcontinent are on the face, very like the last example. But getting batsman out can be cricket's version of the Chinese water torture. This is because, although bare of grass, the wickets have a lot of roots. The bowlers consequently get no help at all.

A captain must take advantage of any clue nature sees fit to give him. One should take care to study the amount and colour of the grass on the pitch, and he degree of moisture in it. This can be ascertained by the unscientific method of walking to the side of the square away from where the ball will pitch, and scratching away some of the surface with your studs. If the soil half an inch down is black, there is some moisture to exploit. You can also be helped by the groundsman's daily ritual of rolling the square before play. Look closely if the pitch gives under the weight of the roller. It will have some dampness in it.

Incidentally, a captain must choose the correct roller if he wins the toss on the first day of a Test match. It is easy to make the mistake of asking for a heavy roller to be used, which can stimulate any moisture in the pitch and result in it coming to the surface faster than normal. This of course, presents a needless opportunity to the opposing bowlers. If there is the slightest suspicion that there might be some deep-seated dampness in the pitch, generally a light roller is used.

A cricket ball will provide additional help in the rating of a pitch. If, when you bounce the ball on the pitch, it rises little more than a foot off the ground, it will be a slow, low wicket. However, if it rebounds above the waist height, the pace bowlers can start rubbing their hands in gleeful expectation of a profitable day's work. Experience, though, is the great tutor for any captain. You build up a mental file on the types of pitches you play on. A captain has to stand or fall by his own judgement, and it would be better to look at the pitch individually and form one's own opinion.

Local knowledge is important in assessing any pitch, whether at out of town or Test-level. It is also essential that the captain should understand as much as possible about the mysteries that surround the reasons why a ball swings. The scientists still try to convince cricketers that it is physically impossible for a ball to do so, but it is better to believe one one's own eyes.

The theory which most swing bowlers follow is that the ball will move in the air if shined on one side. The smooth half of the ball cuts through the atmosphere quicker and makes the ball swing. Atmospheric conditions have, obviously, to be very heavy. But the baffling fact is that some balls simply swing more than others. There are many cricketers who have claims that in this age of uniformity, every ball is essentially the same. If one studies the ball, one will be able to tell the difference between the brands because if in the case of a spinner, some have small hands and are able to tell the variations in size when one holds the ball between one's fingers.

One-day cricket - the craze of the young people of the modern era, has been promoted to cater to the public's growing demand for instant results, is a completely different ball-game. It has thrown up a new type of tactical decision that had to be made.The current fashion among teams if a team wins the toss, then that team is to put the other side to bat first. This is sound and sensible ploy when the wicket is likely to give initial help to the bowlers. In such circumstances it is very difficult for the side with the first knock to set themselves a realistic target. The common failing is for them to be too ambitious and pay for that by throwing away wickets on a needless run chase.

The side batting second has the undoubted advantage of knowing exactly what is required of them.