‘No toss’ rule could benefit Australia – Rogers

Chris Rogers, the former Australia opener who announced his retirement last week, has suggested a similar change to the toss regulations introduced in England for the 2016 Championship season could also benefit Australian cricket.

Away teams were given the choice of bowling first or asking for a toss (if they wished to bat), a move designed to discourage teams from preparing green, seaming pitches and give spinners more of an opportunity as games wore on. Rogers led Somerset to second place in Division One – missing out on a first title by four points to Middlesex on the final day – after overseeing the club’s switch to playing on turning surfaces during the latter half of the season.

Although Rogers, a regular performer in county cricket for more than a decade, said he felt his game was better suited to playing on traditional English surfaces that aided swing and seam, he was encouraged by his own development against spin, in his final season as a professional, and suggested the experiment could be taken to Australia and the Sheffield Shield.

“I think Australia would benefit from it as well,” Rogers said. “The one thing that seems to be happening in Australian cricket, all the wickets there are becoming quite uniform in the way they play. The …

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