Captains can't change decision once declared at the toss: MCC

During West Indies’ fixture against defending champions Australia in their opening game of the ICC Women’s World Cup, controversy arose even before the game started. On winning the toss, Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor elected to bat first before changing it to ‘bowl’. Taylor had told Australian skipper Meg Lanning that she would like to bat first. However, when it came to the interview of the official live stream, Taylor changed her decision saying that she wanted to bowl. Lanning, however, stood firmly with a rock-solid determination demanding a clarification of the rules.

The switch was rightly denied the permission by the match official and the opposing captain. The law 4 on the toss insists the presence of umpire/umpires at the toss. However, the ICC is overriding it for the ICC competitions as per their playing conditions. Following the decision, Carribean batwoman Chedean Nation said the team was not affected by the mix-up.

The law explained

Explaining the laws in details, Jonny Singer, who is a Cricket Advisor at Lord’s stated, “As soon as the toss is completed, the captain of the side winning the toss shall notify the opposing captain and the umpires of his decision to bat or to field. Once notified, the decision cannot be changed”.

Nevertheless, some inspired bowling by the likes of Ellyse Perry and Jess Jonassen saw West Indies bundled out for mere 204. Perry was the pick of the Aussie bowlers, ending up with figures of 3/47 in 9 overs. Kristen Beams and Jess Jonassen also contributed with a couple of wickets each.

Australia powered by Meg Lanning chased down the target with 8 wickets and 73 deliveries remaining as the Windies bowling department failed to put up any sort of resilience. Nicole Bolton was the star of the chase with an unbeaten 107 to her name while Beth Mooney also impressed with a score of 70.