Coin toss out, bat flip in at BBL 2018

Instead of heads or tails, captains will now call ‘hills’ or ‘roofs’ and ‘flats’ to decide the course of play in the eighth edition of the tournament, starting on 19 December.

The away team captain will have to make the call, and the only condition is, the bat must complete one full rotation before landing. It is something that has been seen in backyard cricket, but is a first at the professional level.

“For me, it's a great moment which reflects what BBL is about," Kim McConnie, Cricket Australia's head of the Big Bash League, told the ABC.

“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. Now we are making it much more relevant to families – we are creating a moment which is much more fitting with kids.”

McConnie also brushed away concerns that it would be less reliable a process than the coin toss. “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.”

That is because the bat that will be used has been specifically built for this purpose. “The BBL charged our bat-maker, Lachlan Dinger, with the job of coming up with a bat that was of symmetrical weight,” Shannon Gill, Kookaburra’s head of communications, said.

“While Lachie is used to making custom bats with all sorts of requests for Usman Khawaja, Tim Paine and Alyssa Healy, this was quite a left-field challenge!

“Lachie has done the job, though, and Kookaburra is excited to be part of a concept that will stir childhood memories of cricket in the backyard, schoolyard or on the beach.”