Tied Test
Encyclopedia
Tied Test refers to a rare result in Test cricket
. Only two ties have occurred in the 2,000 Tests played since 1877. The first was in 1960 and the second in 1986. On both occasions, the aggregate score
s of both sides (teams) were equal at the conclusion of play and the side batting last had completed its final innings
: 10 batsmen had been dismissed or, from the perspective of the side bowling, 10 wickets had been taken. In other words the runs, wickets and innings were exactly the same.
In cricket, a tie is distinct from a draw, which occurs when play concludes without victory by either team (except where a Test has been formally abandoned).
Both Tied Tests involved the Australian cricket team
. Both ended in the last possible over of play on the last day with a ball to spare, meaning that within the space of several minutes all four normal Test Match results were possible: a win for the batting side, a win for the fielding side, a draw or a tie. Bob Simpson
is the only person to be involved in both Tied Tests — as a player for Australia in the first, and as the Australian team coach in the second.
and Australia
. The match was played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, known as "The Gabba", in Brisbane
, Queensland
, Australia
, between December 9 and December 14, 1960.
West Indies 1st Innings : After a disastrous start of 65-3, Garfield Sobers
made a rapid 132 in 174 minutes. Alan Davidson
took 5-135. West Indies were all out for 453 runs.
Australia 1st Innings : Norm O'Neill
made 181 in 401 minutes. Australia were all out for 505, a lead of 52.
West Indies 2nd Innings : Alan Davidson
took 6-87 and West Indies made 284, setting Australia a target of 233 runs to win.
Australia 2nd innings : Davidson and Australian captain
Richie Benaud
set a 7th-wicket partnership record of 134 between the West Indies and Australia.
Last over of the Australian second innings
Wes Hall
was bowling, with the clock showing 5:56. Australia stood at 227-7, needing six runs to win from the 8-ball over
(the standard for Tests in Australia at the time) with three wicket
s in hand.
and India
, at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
, Chepauk
, Chennai
, in India
between September 18 and September 22, 1986. The conditions were said to be extremely hot and humid.
Australia 1st Innings : Australia declared
at 574 for 7 early on the third day. Dean Jones
made 210, which was then the highest score by an Australian in a Test in India, having faced 330 balls and hit 27 fours and 2 sixes. He had to be treated in hospital after the completion of the innings for heat exhaustion. Australian coach Bob Simpson
described it as "the greatest innings ever played for Australia". David Boon
scored 122, and Australian captain, Allan Border
, 106.
India 1st Innings : India lost 7 wickets for 270 runs by the end of the third day, and were all out for 397, avoiding the follow on by only 23 runs and trailing by 177. Indian captain
Kapil Dev
made 119 and Greg Matthews
took 5-103 wearing a sweater to prove his toughness. Sunil Gavaskar
became the first Test cricketer to make 100 consecutive Test appearances.
Australia 2nd Innings : Australia declared at 170 for 5, their overnight score at the end of the fourth day, setting India a target of 348 to win.
India 2nd Innings : Starting positively, India reached 204 for 2, when Gavaskar was third out for 90. India reached 291 for 5 when Chandrakant Pandit
was out. A flurry of tail-end wickets fell to leave India on 344 for 9 by the last over.
Last over of the Indian second innings
Greg Matthews was bowling to Ravi Shastri
, with India's last man Maninder Singh
at the bowler's end. India needed four runs to win from the 6-ball over with only one wicket remaining.
India were all out for 347, Matthews having taken 5-146 (10-249 in the match) and Ray Bright
5-94, and the match was the second tie in Test cricket. Dean Jones and Kapil Dev were joint Men of the Match
.
In 1996 a Test between England and Zimbabwe was the first instance of a Test to finish with scores level, with England finishing on 204-5 with 5 wickets remaining
The 2011 3rd test between the West Indies and India in Mumbai ended with the scores level and India finishing on 242-9 with one remaining wicket, with Ravichandran Ashwin
being run out for the 9th wicket seeking the winning run on the final ball of the match. .
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
. Only two ties have occurred in the 2,000 Tests played since 1877. The first was in 1960 and the second in 1986. On both occasions, the aggregate score
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
s of both sides (teams) were equal at the conclusion of play and the side batting last had completed its final innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
: 10 batsmen had been dismissed or, from the perspective of the side bowling, 10 wickets had been taken. In other words the runs, wickets and innings were exactly the same.
In cricket, a tie is distinct from a draw, which occurs when play concludes without victory by either team (except where a Test has been formally abandoned).
Both Tied Tests involved the Australian cricket team
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
. Both ended in the last possible over of play on the last day with a ball to spare, meaning that within the space of several minutes all four normal Test Match results were possible: a win for the batting side, a win for the fielding side, a draw or a tie. Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
is the only person to be involved in both Tied Tests — as a player for Australia in the first, and as the Australian team coach in the second.
The First Tied Test, 1960
The first Tied Test was played between the West IndiesWest Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
and Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
. The match was played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, known as "The Gabba", in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, between December 9 and December 14, 1960.
West Indies 1st Innings : After a disastrous start of 65-3, Garfield Sobers
Garfield Sobers
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers AO, OCC is a former cricketer who captained West Indies. His first name of Garfield is variously abbreviated as Gary or Garry. He is widely regarded as one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, having excelled at all the essential skills of batting, bowling and...
made a rapid 132 in 174 minutes. Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
took 5-135. West Indies were all out for 453 runs.
Australia 1st Innings : Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
made 181 in 401 minutes. Australia were all out for 505, a lead of 52.
West Indies 2nd Innings : Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
took 6-87 and West Indies made 284, setting Australia a target of 233 runs to win.
Australia 2nd innings : Davidson and Australian captain
Australian national cricket captains
Australia played in the first-ever Test match in cricket in 1877, the first-ever One Day International in 1971 and the first-ever Twenty20 international in 2005...
Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
set a 7th-wicket partnership record of 134 between the West Indies and Australia.
Last over of the Australian second innings
Wes Hall
Wes Hall
Wesley Winfield Hall is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bowl long spells. Hall played 48 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1969...
was bowling, with the clock showing 5:56. Australia stood at 227-7, needing six runs to win from the 8-ball over
Over (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....
(the standard for Tests in Australia at the time) with three wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s in hand.
- 1st ball : Wally GroutWally GroutArthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
, facing, was hit on the thigh. Benaud called him through for a single to take strike. Five runs were needed to win from seven balls. - 2nd ball : Benaud attempted a hook shotHook shotA hook shot, in basketball, is a play in which the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball with a sweeping motion of his arm in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over his head. Unlike the jump shot, it is shot with only one hand; the other...
but was caughtCaughtCaught is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. Being caught out is the most common method of dismissal at higher levels of competition...
behind by wicket-keeperWicket-keeperThe wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
Gerry AlexanderGerry AlexanderFranz Copeland Murray "Gerry" Alexander was a Jamaican cricketer who played 25 Tests for the West Indies...
. The score was 228-8. - 3rd ball : The new batsman, Ian MeckiffIan MeckiffIan Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
, cut to mid-off. No run. Still five runs to win from five balls. - 4th ball : The ball flew down leg-side without making contact with Meckiff's bat. Grout called him through for a byeBye (cricket)In the sport of cricket, a bye is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batsman and the ball has not hit the batsman's body.-Scoring byes:...
. Alexander threw the ball to the bowler's end to try to run outRun outRun out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
Meckiff, but his throw missed and Meckiff made his ground. Four runs to win from four balls. - 5th ball : Grout fended a bouncerBouncer (cricket)In the sport of cricket, a bouncer is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler. It is pitched short so that it bounces on the pitch well short of the batsman and rears up to chest or head height as it reaches the batsman.Bouncers are used tactically to drive the batsman back on to his...
to square legFielding (cricket)Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...
, where Rohan KanhaiRohan KanhaiRohan Bholalall Kanhai is a former West Indian Cricket player of Indo-Guyanese descent. He is widely considered as one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured in several great West Indian teams, playing with, among others, Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, and Alvin...
was ready to take the catch. Hall also attempted to take the catch in his follow-through, resulting in a fielding mix-up which allows Meckiff and Grout take a single and the catch was not taken. Three runs to win from three balls. - 6th ball : Meckiff swung desperately and sent the ball towards the mid-wicket boundaryBoundary (cricket)Boundary has two distinct meanings in the sport of cricket:# the edge or boundary of the playing field, and# a manner of scoring runs.-Edge of the field:...
. The batsmen ran two runs as Conrad HunteConrad HunteSir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies.-Early life and career:...
scooped the ball up just inside the fence. The batsmen attempted a third run for victory but Hunte's return was flat and true, straight into the gloves of Alexander, who whipped off the bailsBail (cricket)In the sport of cricket, a bail is one of the two smaller sticks placed on top of the three stumps to form a wicket. The bails are used to determine when the wicket is broken, which in turn is one of the critical factors in determining whether a batsman is out bowled, stumped, run out or hit wicket...
before Grout could get home. The teams were tied. Australia were on 232-9, requiring one run to win with one wicket in hand and two balls remaining. - 7th ball : The new batsman, Lindsay KlineLindsay KlineLindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
, pushed the ball to square leg and set off for a single. Joe SolomonJoe SolomonJoseph Stanislaus Solomon is a former West Indian cricketer who played 27 Tests for the West Indies. He played Test cricket from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up...
scooped up the ball and, with one stumpStump (cricket)Stump is a term used in the sport of cricket where it has three different meanings:# part of the wicket# a manner of dismissing a batsman# the end of the day's play .-Part of the wicket:...
to aim for from 12 metres out, threw the ball in and hit the stumps, running Meckiff out by a few inches.
- Australia were all out for 232 and the match ended in the first tie in 84 years of Test Cricket.
The second Tied Test, 1986
The second Tied Test was the first Test of a three Test series, played between AustraliaAustralian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
and India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chennai , India, named after M. A. Chidambaram, the former President of BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The stadium was formerly known as Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Commonly known as Chepauk, its first match was...
, Chepauk
Chepauk
Chepauk is a locality in Chennai , in India. The name Chepauk is popularly used to refer to the M. A. Chidambaram International Cricket Stadium also known as Chepauk Stadium. It is also home to the Chepauk palace, built in the Indo-Saracenic style...
, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
between September 18 and September 22, 1986. The conditions were said to be extremely hot and humid.
Australia 1st Innings : Australia declared
Declaration and forfeiture
In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket...
at 574 for 7 early on the third day. Dean Jones
Dean Jones (cricketer)
Dean Mervyn Jones AM is a retired Australian cricketer, and is presently a coach. He also worked as a media commentator.-Career:...
made 210, which was then the highest score by an Australian in a Test in India, having faced 330 balls and hit 27 fours and 2 sixes. He had to be treated in hospital after the completion of the innings for heat exhaustion. Australian coach Bob Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
described it as "the greatest innings ever played for Australia". David Boon
David Boon
David Clarence Boon MBE , nicknamed Boony, is a former Australian cricketer whose international playing career spanned the years 1984–1995...
scored 122, and Australian captain, Allan Border
Allan Border
Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh...
, 106.
India 1st Innings : India lost 7 wickets for 270 runs by the end of the third day, and were all out for 397, avoiding the follow on by only 23 runs and trailing by 177. Indian captain
Indian national cricket captains
This is a list of all cricketers who have captained Indian national cricket team at the international level. The list includes all Indian captains of men's, women's and youth cricket. India became a full member of the Imperial Cricket Conference on 31 May 1926...
Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj , better known as Kapil Dev, is a former Indian cricketer. He captained the Indian cricket team which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup...
made 119 and Greg Matthews
Greg Matthews
Gregory Richard John "Mo" Matthews is a former New South Wales and Australian cricketer who is now a television cricket commentator....
took 5-103 wearing a sweater to prove his toughness. Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
became the first Test cricketer to make 100 consecutive Test appearances.
Australia 2nd Innings : Australia declared at 170 for 5, their overnight score at the end of the fourth day, setting India a target of 348 to win.
India 2nd Innings : Starting positively, India reached 204 for 2, when Gavaskar was third out for 90. India reached 291 for 5 when Chandrakant Pandit
Chandrakant Pandit
Chandrakant Sitaram Pandit is a former Indian cricketer who played in 5 Tests and 36 ODIs from 1986 to 1992. After his retirement as a player, Pandit became a cricket coach, enjoying successful stints with the Mumbai cricket team.In the 1980s he was given the status of second wicketkeeper behind...
was out. A flurry of tail-end wickets fell to leave India on 344 for 9 by the last over.
Last over of the Indian second innings
Greg Matthews was bowling to Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri
Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri is a former Indian cricketer and captain. He was an all–rounder who batted right-handed and bowled left arm spin. His international career started when he was 18 years old and lasted for 12 years...
, with India's last man Maninder Singh
Maninder Singh
Maninder Singh is a former international cricket player who represented India in 35 Test matches and 59 One Day Internationals. With his slow left-arm orthodox spin, Maninder was considered as an heir to Bishan Singh Bedi, who then held the record as India's leading spinner in terms of wickets....
at the bowler's end. India needed four runs to win from the 6-ball over with only one wicket remaining.
- 1st ball : To Shastri: no run. Four runs required off five balls.
- 2nd ball : Shastri took two runs, retaining the strike. Two runs required off four balls.
- 3rd ball : Shastri pushed the ball to square leg for a single. The scores were tied, with one run required for victory, but the Indian 11th man was now on strike.
- 4th ball : To Singh: no run. One run required off two balls.
- 5th ball : The ball hit Singh on his back leg and umpireUmpire (cricket)In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...
Vikram Raju called him out leg before wicketLeg before wicketIn the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
after a loud appeal.
India were all out for 347, Matthews having taken 5-146 (10-249 in the match) and Ray Bright
Ray Bright
Raymond James Bright is a former Australian Test and One Day International cricketer.A left-arm orthodox spin bowler and useful lower order right-handed batsman, Bright made his first-class debut for Victoria at eighteen years of age, against New South Wales in Sydney in the 1972–1973 domestic...
5-94, and the match was the second tie in Test cricket. Dean Jones and Kapil Dev were joint Men of the Match
Man of the match
In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
.
Draws close to a Tie
Only 4 matches in test history have finished with scores level - the above two instances and two other matches which ended with the scores level, yet not met the condition of a tie due to either side having wickets in hand.In 1996 a Test between England and Zimbabwe was the first instance of a Test to finish with scores level, with England finishing on 204-5 with 5 wickets remaining
The 2011 3rd test between the West Indies and India in Mumbai ended with the scores level and India finishing on 242-9 with one remaining wicket, with Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin is an Indian national cricket team player, who plays for India and Tamil Nadu cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman and right arm off-break bowler. He is the only bowler of recent times apart from Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka to bowl the carrom ball. He played two matches...
being run out for the 9th wicket seeking the winning run on the final ball of the match. .