Bat and ball / Paul Moon / 17 October 2007 /

Pablo Luna - Moonlighting for Betfair. Pablo considers the myth behind the importance of winning the toss

With a sardonic smile, that great Australian captain Steve Waugh stated, "Nine times out of ten I always bat first after winning the toss, the other time I think about it for a few seconds then bat first". In one sentence I have explained the importance of calling heads or tails correctly! End of story!

A team, having won the toss will always have some advantage over the opposition. It will depend on how they interpret that advantage - understanding the pitch, the local conditions, their opponents or even the capabilities of their own team. How many times have we seen batsmen indiscriminately giving their wickets away or bowlers bowling the wrong line and length in the first critical hours of the match, thus giving away the advantage gained.

I dismiss the statistics that say 35% of sides who win the toss win the match compared to 31% who lose the toss. These figures have been diluted by inferior teams such as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and more recently the West Indies. To those people who love statistics, scoring over 300 runs plus to win when batting last has been done less than six times in the history of the game! How about that as an argument to batting first?

If you have a match played by two sides of equal ability then winning the toss and batting first is a huge, huge advantage.

Whether playing on pitches in Australia, Africa, West Indies or the subcontinent the groundsmen will go even further and prepare a specific track tailored to their own players. Once the toss is won it can be 'Good night, Irene!' It is only in England where our excessive sense of fair play says, "Let's try and make the surface last five days, give everybody a chance!" For goodness sake, let's win the match!

Some people would like to replace the toss with something else but I have not heard a good counter argument and I am reluctant to change the history of a great game and replace it with a quick fix American - type solution. I am a traditionalist. I already think we have gone far enough with the introduction of Twenty20 and do not want our treasured game changed beyond recognition.

I enjoy seeing great batmen and bowlers coming to terms with the pitch and conditions. That is what sets apart 'the Greats from the Ordinaries'. I enjoy seeing captains analysing with the imponderables and vagaries of the game. It is what makes the game so enthralling. I can get as much pleasure with a tickle to long leg from a good delivery to a six, ten rows back, over cow corner!

Obviously the above is of less importance in ODI Matches but even then the advantage is still significant, especially in the day/night matches which, incidentally I would scrap!

I note that the first two ODI Matches this week between Pakistan and South Africa are being played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. This is traditionally a good batting strip so I would be keen to back the side batting first with two evenly match sides, especially in the first match, which is a day/nighter. There is some evidence that the Proteas are very good at chasing totals but that does not negate my earlier comments etc...

Pakistan are currently 2.16 with Betfair for the first ODI with South Africa trading at 1.84 with Betfair so the value could be Pakistan should they win the toss! The toss will be done half an hour before the game starts so you can place your bets then.

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