Faf calls for toss to be scrapped

Cape Town - Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis feels that doing away with the toss would help bring some balance back to Test cricket.

Du Plessis says that the visiting captain should be given the choice to bat or bowl which he says will make touring teams more competitive.

The Proteas lost the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle inside three days failing to aggregate 200 runs across two innings.

"I'm a big fan of taking away the toss," said Du Plessis after the Proteas' 278-run defeat.

"I think even in South Africa you'll still prepare the conditions the way you prepare them now, but you just make sure that you bring some balance.

"In home conditions teams will still win the majority of the games, but you still do even it out a little," he said.

"I think over the last two or three years away-records have definitely gone down, and games are finishing a lot sooner than they used to."

Du Plessis feels that scrapping the toss will lead to curators creating fairer pitches.

"When I started playing Test cricket, 400s and 500s were happening quite regularly," Du Plessis said. "So I'm not just speaking about subcontinent conditions. In South Africa games hardly reach the end of day four anymore. I think that's one of the ways you can make sure that balance is a little better."

READ: Faf: Our plans against spin backfired

Du Plessis credited Sri Lanka for making it tough for the Proteas by not giving them spinning wickets for warm-ups and practice matches.

"We played a warm-up game in Colombo which was on a flat wicket - it didn't spin. So you have to give credit to Sri Lanka for doing that well. That's some learning in that to take when we're playing in South Africa," said the Proteas skipper.

"The nets that we've been playing in haven't been spinning at all. So we could have even come a month earlier but if you're practicing on facilities that don't spin, you're not going to get what you get out there (in the Tests)."

The second - and last - Test between the two teams gets under way on Friday, July 20 in Colombo.