Adam Gilchrist in favour of coin toss despite scrapping calls from Allan Border

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ADAM Gilchrist is the latest cricket heavyweight to offer his two cents on the coin toss debate, giving his vote of confidence to the time-honoured tradition.

Gilchrist addressed the hot topic after fellow cricket great Allan Border joined South Africa captain Faf du Plessis in calling for Test matches to be trialled without the toss.

Coin toss sceptics believe the tradition has created an imbalance between home and away teams, with touring sides suffering defeat 190 times and only winning 101 of the 370 Tests played since 2010.

But Gilchrist placed himself outside the Border-du Plessis camp on Tuesday night, saying the toss isn’t to blame and its history should be respected.

“I think we’re just going through a phase where teams aren’t as good overseas and then it goes in fits and spurts,” he told Back Page Live.

“Another era will turn up and dominate overseas. I just think; do we have to change everything about history?”

Those calling for the toss to be scrapped believe the visiting side should choose who bats first to provide a disincentive for home sides to doctor their pitches.

But the Fox Sports commentator said recent tours on the subcontinent prove this would make little difference to results.

“Australia and England on their last tours to India – out of eight (nine) Test matches, six (seven) tosses were won by the touring team and as you do in India you bat first, and they both lost three out of the four games,” Gilchrist said. England went down 4-0 in its five Test tour.

“Sri Lanka play their home conditions well. We’ve got to not worry about that and sharpen up on better upskilling and go over there and be better in those conditions.”

Australia has only claimed one Test series victory in India since 1969; a 2-1 win in 2004.

Gilchrist was part of that star-studded Australian side who last solved the puzzle of the subcontinent, and captain for the team’s two wins.

Speaking about the landmark series win, Gilchrist said: “That was a lot of preparation and experience gained from losing tours there previously and it was a collective unit of preparation for a number of years to finally crack the nut over there.

“Twice that era I played in 16 Test match wins in a row and I’m not sure that’s going to be beaten for a long time, if at all, but in amongst those two achievements, winning there for that group collectively was the pinnacle I think.”

In May, the ICC cricket committee advised the retention of the coin toss, arguing “it was an integral part of Test cricket which forms part of the narrative of the game.”