GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S Liam Norwell smashed his first century of his professional career last month – as a nightwatchman.

But the paceman has declared himself not a big fan of the new England and Wales Cricket Board changes to the toss before the first day of Specsavers County Championships Division Two matches.

It is now six weeks into the new county season and six weeks into the ECB trial of the changes which see the away side offered the chance to bowl first on a home team’s pitch. If they decline, the toss takes place as normal.

The move has been made in an attempt to stop home teams producing pitches that will be to their own advantage.

But, as Norwell predicted earlier this season, some pitches have become too tame which has seen more pace bowlers than spinners in starting sides.

Worcestershire have already taken advantage of the rule change to bowl first in their draw at The Brightside Ground in Bristol at the end of April.

Norwell, who astonished everyone by coming in to bat at the end of day two against Derbyshire and stuck around with Thornbury’s Chris Dent through day three for a 168-run partnership, said: “I am not a fan of the rule changes, if I’m being honest.

“I think one of the great traditions of cricket is the toss because, if it is a bit of a green pitch and you win the toss, you get an advantage.

“I don’t think it should just be given to the away team. I think it is going to encourage quite negative pitches, quite flat and docile pitches but we can only wait and see. Hopefully that is not the case but the toss is the tradition of the game which should not be messed with.”

And with the ECB looking to reduce the County Championship divisions and the fixture list next season, it will mean two Championship games will be lost from the calendar.

The restructure will also see the T20 Blast and Royal London One-Day Cup fit into specific blocks in the season so that sides are not constantly switching from one format to another.

Norwell added: “For me, I’m not a fan of losing two Championship games. One of the biggest appeals of the English game is a 16-game season which is longer than anywhere in the world.

“That’s why you get your big names wanting to come over and test themselves over 16 games. But I think it needs to go into blocks because, last year, we played all three formats in one month and changing from one format to another is tough.

“Next year, we are all looking forward to saying that, say, July is the fifty over game and we can just focus on that.”