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Post by hhsussex on Apr 21, 2016 13:02:54 GMT
Introducing a new thread that will consider the outcomes, intentional or unintended, of this year's regulation for the county championship that the visiting side shall have the option of an Award i.e. to put the home side in to bat, the toss only happening if the visiting side declines to do so. The stated intentions are to deter a trend to produce "result" wickets where the home side prepares wickets to suit its own bowlers in the hope of winning the toss and bowling first, and also to produce better quality spin bowlers for the England team by producing pitches that will last 4 days. I say, beware the law of untintended consequences.....
Here are some figures after the first two rounds of games, one played, if at all, in rain and cloud, the other generally in sunshine.
Overall 12 matches, 6 in each division. 3 home wins, 1 visiting side win, 7 draws, 1 match abandoned without a ball being bowled. Average first innings score 371
Matches where the Award took place (6): 1 home win, 5 draws. Average first innings score 405
Too early for any absolute conclusions, particularly about whether a new generation of spinners will be magicked into existence by this ploy but some remarkably high scores for the time of year suggesting pitches that will not be very helpful to bowlers of any description. Note that the Sussex first innings score against Essex was below the average and this accords with other observations on this forum that Andy Mackay produced an extremely good cricket wicket that worked well for everyone and lasted 4 days - remarkably good for this time of the year.
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Post by fraudster on Apr 22, 2016 19:38:40 GMT
How's Toss Watch going HH, seen much more tossing?
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Post by hhsussex on Apr 28, 2016 6:44:41 GMT
Another round, played in truly abysmal weather and there seem to be indications that two things are combining here:the reliance on up 25% of the championship being played in truly hazardous conditions - meaning that chance can be as big a factor in separating points-gathering success from failure - and that clubs have generally responded to the change in regulations by preparing pitches that are safe for batting. Had Essex seized the opportunity at Hove last week then the 2nd division championship would probably be settled by the end of May. As it is a dreadful weather forecast suggests that we will be lucky to come away with more than the 12 points won against Essex. Meanwhilethe biggest gamblers must now be the away captains who can be pretty sure that there are runs in the pitch if they bat first but must fight the tempation to use the power that the ECB so ingenuously gave them and bowl first. Leicester are the only side to have won away from home so far and they did so by electing for the toss.  |
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Post by theleopard on Apr 28, 2016 8:44:33 GMT
I believe most figures suggest that April isn't actually especially dreadful for average rainfall against other months. The issue is bunching so much of the Championship into a short time period, so if April 10 to May 25 is wet, the competition is badly damaged.
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Post by hhsussex on Apr 28, 2016 11:19:08 GMT
I believe most figures suggest that April isn't actually especially dreadful for average rainfall against other months. The issue is bunching so much of the Championship into a short time period, so if April 10 to May 25 is wet, the competition is badly damaged. Not so much the chances of rainfall in April as the cold and the condition of the grounds so early in the year. Constant play throughout April increases the risk of damaging the pitches, of the consequences of a bad patch of weather being more threatening, and that all contributes to underlining your second point. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2016 18:02:09 GMT
Back on the topic of the toss, there is already sufficient evidence to say it is working as a preventive measure: no green tops and no sides bowled out for under 200 on day one, which I'd guess happened a fair bit in April in previous seasons.
The lowest first innings totals so far are:
Div One
202 by Hants v Warwicks at Ageas Bowl (inseertion, no toss)
242 by Notts v Lancs at Old Trafford (won toss and batted)
Div Two
262 Glos v Essex at Chelmsford (won toss and batted)
264 Kent v Leics at Grace Road (won toss and batted)
Whether it has the desired effect of bringing spin in to play on days three and four we will not know until we get to drier pitches later in the season.
Meanwhile, I'm astonisghed to learn that Kent made an official complaint about the abandoned game at Worcs, claiming that the home county was negligent and should be docked points. I had assumed that it was just the routine grumbling from a county where moaning is a way of life. But they took it all the way to the top and the complaint has now been investigated by Gerard Elias QC. Today he delivered his verdict and unsurprisngly he concluded that Kent's case had no merit.
What on earth did they expect? All Kent has done is make an enemy of Worcs and to waste a pot-load of the ECB's money in legal fees. The Kent CCC guide to how to win friends and influence people must be the second shortest book in the world after the Donald J Trump encyclopaedia of decency and decorum. Doh...
But Elias made one interesting observation in his ruling. He has invited the ECB to "consider whether any further actions and/or safeguards are possible to seek to ensure that county grounds staging matches in April are more likely to be able to do so satisfactorily." I'm not a QC (or even a meteorologist) - but I'd say the only way to do that is to start the CC in May!!!
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Post by deepfineleg on May 2, 2016 7:45:20 GMT
... no sides bowled out for under 200 on day one, which I'd guess happened a fair bit in April in previous seasons. That wasn't the record I hoped to see broken yesterday! And it's May now. |
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Post by hhsussex on May 6, 2016 6:09:53 GMT
Third round of games completed now, and with better weather, and despite the Sussex attempt to subvert the theory, it looks very likely that the big bad exercise in over-reaction has persuaded groundsmen to err on the side of producing batsmen's wickets. Of 27 games played in both divisons 20 have now been drawn - that is 74%. The average first innings score is 366 and the number of visiting sides choosing to take the toss award and put the home team in is only 10. It should be an even less popular option when viewing the results: the only two such games ending in a positive result went to the home side and the average first innings scores for toss award games is 385. The twofold objectives of this ludicrous bit of tinkering were To dissuade sides from producing very green wickets that would suit their own seam bowlers on the first morning of the game, and To encourage the development of spin bowlers by providing wickets that would start firm and gradually age and give turn on the third and fourth days The first objective has undoubtedly been achieved and surpassed. Only 21 bowlers have taken 10 wickets or more in these first 3 rounds, all of them medium pace or quicker, led by Napier and Porter of Essex (29 and 28) and followed by Ball of Notts with 23. Of the spinners Patel of Warwicks has taken 8 at 32, then several on 7 and 6 wickets each with a lot of bowling being done by spinners with numb fingers on thankless pitches. Rashid has bowled 91 overs for 7 at 45, Kerrigan 102 (6 at 36) and of course Briggs has bowled 120 for his 5 expensive wickets.It could be a very long and difficult season for them and their kind.  |
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Tosswatch
May 16, 2016 13:31:41 GMT
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Post by philh on May 16, 2016 13:31:41 GMT
It may be premature and I don't have the stats to hand, but a lot of games seem to produce big first innings scores with dead games resulting.
Personally, I like games where 300 or a bit more is the norm. It makes for closer games and means that a team can recover.
Yes, I know. Sussex will now crumble to 100 all out.
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Post by hhsussex on May 16, 2016 13:46:23 GMT
It may be premature and I don't have the stats to hand, but a lot of games seem to produce big first innings scores with dead games resulting. Personally, I like games where 300 or a bit more is the norm. It makes for closer games and means that a team can recover. Yes, I know. Sussex will now crumble to 100 all out. At the end of the last round of games there had been 12 matches where the first innings was Awarded to the visitors. This resulted in 2 wins for the home side, none for the visitors, 10 draws and and average first innings score of 367. Overall there have been 35 games, 7 home wins, 1 away win, 1 match abandonded, 26 draws , average first innings score 351. My conclusion is that in most cases groundsmen are now preparing wickets that will favour batsmen to negate the possibility of away advantage. There is no evidence yet that this is encouraging spin, as the ECB wanted, because the wickets are proving too good to deteriorate on days 3 and 4. We will have to wait till the late summer to see if this is true, but by that time the 1st and 2nd divison championships will be won by those teams that have somehow managed to force a couple of wins whilst the majority play for draws and bonus points. On edit: Essex having declared on 538-7, there have now been 15 matches where the visiting side has opted to send their opponents in. They have amassed 5733 runs - an average of 382 |
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Post by fraudster on May 16, 2016 21:06:59 GMT
It may be premature and I don't have the stats to hand, but a lot of games seem to produce big first innings scores with dead games resulting. Personally, I like games where 300 or a bit more is the norm. It makes for closer games and means that a team can recover. Yes, I know. Sussex will now crumble to 100 all out. At the end of the last round of games there had been 12 matches where the first innings was Awarded to the visitors. This resulted in 2 wins for the home side, none for the visitors, 10 draws and and average first innings score of 367. Overall there have been 35 games, 7 home wins, 1 away win, 1 match abandonded, 26 draws , average first innings score 351. My conclusion is that in most cases groundsmen are now preparing wickets that will favour batsmen to negate the possibility of away advantage. There is no evidence yet that this is encouraging spin, as the ECB wanted, because the wickets are proving too good to deteriorate on days 3 and 4. We will have to wait till the late summer to see if this is true, but by that time the 1st and 2nd divison championships will be won by those teams that have somehow managed to force a couple of wins whilst the majority play for draws and bonus points. On edit: Essex having declared on 538-7, there have now been 15 matches where the visiting side has opted to send their opponents in. They have amassed 5733 runs - an average of 382 Well the end of your second paragraph sounds like an accurate guess at a conclusion to me. It will be nothing short of a pathetic conclusion too. This toss b******s is just shunting a problem to the other end of the spectrum. I'd rather green tops than featherbeds any day of the week but the elusive middle ground is what we all want. The problem with introducing something like this is that you are suggesting sides go one way in their pitch preparation, at best. Forcing their hand in some cases possibly. It's not good, lose it. |
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Post by hhsussex on May 19, 2016 7:40:19 GMT
Here's the latest on the law of Unintended Consequences. After 43 games covering both divisions not only has the proportion of drawn games doubled compared with the 2015 season, the introduction of the Toss Award, designed to inhibit the preparation of pitches for home advantage and thus offer the visiting team a better chance, has had the reverse effect in that it has dramatically reduced the proportion of games won by visiting sides. |
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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 19, 2016 8:01:55 GMT
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Post by flashblade on May 19, 2016 9:32:31 GMT
Does anyone else think it would be better to do away with the toss and instead let the away captain decide whether to bat or bowl? That way, the home team would be motivated to prepare a 'fair' wicket.
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Post by philh on May 19, 2016 9:46:07 GMT
Here's my novel idea. The two captains walk out to the middle of the square. The home captain tosses a coin. The away captain calls 'heads' or 'tails'. If the away captain is right, he chooses whether to bat or bowl. If the away captain is wrong, the home captain chooses whether to bat or bowl.
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