MUCH was made of the importance of winning the toss before the cricket World Cup, with commentators predicting many matches could be decided by it. Sides put in by the opposition, the argument ran, would be at a major disadvantage, battling to survive as swing and seam bowlers exploited wickets made lively by early-morning moisture. The early statistics, however, don’t back up that argument. South Africa, the tournament favourites, have seen skipper Hansie Cronje lose all three tosses against India, Sri Lanka and England. Put in twice, they won each of those games. Pakistan – who have won one of three tosses – have batted first all three times, but also remain unbeaten. England, meanwhile, are perhaps the luckiest side of the event so far. Alec Stewart – who lost all five tosses in the recent Ashes series – has won all four of his World Cup tosses. He has put the opposition in each time and led his side to three wins out of four. “I’ve been practising with the coin,” he says.