MELBOURNE: There will be no more “heads” or “tails” at the toss in the Big Bash. Instead, it’s “hills” or “flats” as an Australian backyard tradition takes center stage, reported Cricinfo.
The coin toss has been replaced by the bat flip, with the winner of the call begin decided by which side up the cricket bat lands.
On the backyards around Australia the favoured call is “hills” because of the natural tendency for the bat to rest on the flat side, but in order to retain the fairness in the Big Bash a specially modified bat has been made which, it has been assured, won’t favour the call.
“For me, it’s a great moment which reflects what BBL is about,” Cricket Australia’s head of the Big Bash League, Kim McConnie, told the ABC. “I’ve got it from great authority at our [bat maker] Kookaburra friends that this is a tested and weighted bat to deliver that equity.”
McConnie expected some resistance to the new method of starting a match but believed in the tournament trying innovations.
“Some people don’t like change but I’d also challenge people to say when was the last time anyone watched the coin toss or really focused on it to a great extent?” she said. “Now we are making it much more relevant to families, we are creating a moment which is much more fitting with kids.”
The first captain to flip the bat will be Brisbane Heat’s Chris Lynn against Adelaide Strikers on December 19. Who calls “hills” or “flats” remains to be seen as Travis Head is the Strikers captain but he is involved in the Test series against India.
