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[jwebber86]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/34917711

just seen this story and thought it was interesting.

hopefully itl'll lead to better cricket and encourage spinners to actually bowl teams out

[edge]

I like that the visiting captain can still decide to have a toss, wonder how often they'll take that option! Can't help but think that this will actually produce a lot of bland pitches that won't break up at all over the 4 days.

[jwebber86]

i would of thought most teams would look to bat first so the home team wont create a green top and depending on the quality of their spinner will depend on whether it is a road or a dust bowl

[edge]

i would of thought most teams would look to bat first so the home team wont create a green top and depending on the quality of their spinner will depend on whether it is a road or a dust bowl

Yeah but if you have a gun spinner, the home team won't make anything like a dust bowl, and if you prepare one at home then the oppo will just bat first. Home sides will surely look to minimise the advantage of the toss and prepare a pitch that plays the same throughout, and the pitch inspectors have come down harshly on anything that turns earlier than day 4, will be the same if it seams for four days.

[Thesmiff]

Maybe the ECB should centrally contract the ground staff and then order them to produce as 'proper' a cricket wicket as prevailing conditions allow

[Mr_Orange]

I believe it will help bring through genuine fast bowlers and better quality spinners. Young spinners and pace bowlers missing out because of a 70/75 mph medium pacer bowling on a green top just isn't right, they need to push through more 'Test Match style' conditions to produce better England players. Very interested to see how the games and surfaces go if this is bought in.

[Neon Cricket]

If you want to improve the number of spinners then they should just use the pitches more often, why not use the same pitch twice?

Scrapping the coin toss is frankly stupid

[csnew]

Problem is too many county teams which dilutes the talent. Far too many 75mph medium pacers in picking up wickets on green tops.

[Buzz]

I think they should replace the toss with best of three scissor, paper, stone.

[jamielsn15]

Given the lack of top class spinners we are producing (or not producing), I reckon any attempt to start to resolve that situation has to be worth a shot.  It may not work, but at least they're looking to address it.

Many other sports make significant changes to rules for many reasons; combating player's bending rules to gain advantages (no, not football, they're stuck in the dark ages) and adapting playing areas to combat rising skill levels.  Give it a go, see what happens.

It's one theory, hopefully there will be a few more (like the continued use of a track one...)

[Disco]

What's this nonsense about greentops? Can anyone honestly say they've seen a greentop in first class cricket recently? Even most of the league wickets I play on you wouldn't call a greentop.

They are simply English wickets, they have more grass than sub-continent or West Indies wickets and are generally softer than SA for example, there is nothing wrong with that, the different conditions are what makes test cricket testing. I don't seem to remember Warne or Murali complaining about bowling on them. Do we really want to start prepping Indian type wickets where the quicks bowl a few token overs to take the shine off then spinners wheel away from both ends for hours?

It's a load of reactionary rubbish in my opinion brought about by people who really should know more about the game. I believe the most entertaining test cricket is played in England on pitches that give the bowler something to work with if he hits his areas and the batsman has to work hard for runs, trying to prep spinning wickets is going to take that away and for what? We still won't produce world class spinners, we never have.

[Buzz]

@Disco you might want to watch some games at Essex or Derbyshire at some point.

[Batbuddy99]

@Disco Northants prepped spinning wickets for about two years to progress the talents of Graeme Swann and Graeme White, and they had great success and we got a great spinner from it


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[InternalTraining]

What's this nonsense about greentops? Can anyone honestly say they've seen a greentop in first class cricket recently? Even most of the league wickets I play on you wouldn't call a greentop.

They are simply English wickets, they have more grass than sub-continent or West Indies wickets and are generally softer than SA for example, there is nothing wrong with that, the different conditions are what makes test cricket testing. I don't seem to remember Warne or Murali complaining about bowling on them. Do we really want to start prepping Indian type wickets where the quicks bowl a few token overs to take the shine off then spinners wheel away from both ends for hours?

It's a load of reactionary rubbish in my opinion brought about by people who really should know more about the game. I believe the most entertaining test cricket is played in England on pitches that give the bowler something to work with if he hits his areas and the batsman has to work hard for runs, trying to prep spinning wickets is going to take that away and for what? We still won't produce world class spinners, we never have.

Different conditions make test cricket exciting. International tennis is played on three different types of surfaces. I don't see players or fans whining. Quick pitches? Great! Green tops with swing? Great! Dusty spin friendly? Great!