In the sport of cricket, a coin is tossed to determine which team bats first. This is known as the toss.
Before play begins, the captain of each side will inspect the pitch. Based on the pitch and weather conditions, the captains select their final eleven players. If the pitch is soft or dusty, the captain will tend to select more spin bowlers; if the pitch is hard, the choice tends to favour fast bowlers at the expense of spinners

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toss_(cricket)