In the sport of cricket, a tie occurs when the match is concluded with each team having scored exactly the same number of runs, and the team batting last having completed its second innings. The definition of a completed innings is all ten batsmen having been dismissed, or the pre-determined number of overs having been bowled. It has been on rare occasions only that an important or first-class match has ended in a tie. In more than 300 years since the earliest important matches were played, there have been 70, including two in Test matches.
Earliest known ties
The earliest known instance of a tie is in a single wicket "threes" match at Lamb's Conduit Field on Wednesday, 1 September 1736. Three London players were matched against three of Surrey. Although the sources give different totals for each innings, they are agreed that both teams totalled 23 overall. London batted first and scored either 4 and 19, or 3 and 18. Surrey replied with either 18 and 5, or 17 and 6. Five years later, the same two teams produced the earliest known tie in an important eleven-a-side match.
In 1948, the Imperial Cricket Conference (the ICC) ruled that if scores are level when scheduled play ends, but the team batting last still has wickets in hand, the result is a draw, and not a tie. There had previously been ties in which the final innings was incomplete.
Famous tied matches
The two tied Tests both ended on the penultimate ball of the match. In 1960âÂÂ61, Australia v West Indies finished with a run out on ball 7 of 8. In 1986âÂÂ87, India v Australia finished on ball 5 of 6 in the final over of play. In 2024, the match between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan was tied on the last possible ball of the match.
In January 2021, the 2020âÂÂ21 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final ended as a tie, the first time it had occurred in a domestic first-class cricket tournament final.
List
Below is a list of all important and first-class matches that have been declared tied, including those before 1948 which would have been draws in the modern era.
Surrey v London 1741
London v Bromley 1742
Hampshire v Kent 1783
MCC v Oxford & Cambridge Universities 1839
Surrey v Kent 1847
Surrey v MCC 1868
Surrey v Middlesex 1868
Wellington v Nelson 1873/74
Surrey v Middlesex 1876
Gentlemen v Players 1883
Surrey v Lancashire 1894
Worcestershire v South Africans 1901
Middlesex v South Africans 1904
Lancashire v England 1905
Surrey v Kent 1905
MCC v Leicestershire 1907
Jamaica v MCC 1910/11
Somerset v Sussex 1919
Orange Free State v Eastern Province 1925/26
Essex v Somerset 1926
Gloucestershire v Australians 1930
Victoria v MCC 1932/33
Worcestershire v Somerset 1939
Southern Punjab v Baroda 1945/46
Essex v Northamptonshire 1947
Hampshire v Lancashire 1947
D. G. Bradman's XI v A. L. Hassett's XI 1948/49
Hampshire v Kent 1950
Sussex v Warwickshire 1952
Essex v Lancashire 1952
Northamptonshire v Middlesex 1953
Yorkshire v Leicestershire 1954
Sussex v Hampshire 1955
Victoria v New South Wales 1956/57
T. N. Pearce's XI v New Zealanders 1958
Essex v Gloucestershire 1959
Australia v West Indies 1960/61
Bahawalpur v Lahore B 1961/62
Hampshire v Middlesex 1967
England XI v England Under-25s 1968
Yorkshire v Middlesex 1973
Sussex v Essex 1974
South Australia v Queensland 1976/77
Central Districts v England 1977/78
Victoria v New Zealanders 1982/83
Muslim Commercial Bank v Railways 1983/84
Sussex v Kent 1984
Northamptonshire v Kent 1984
Western Province v Eastern Province 1984/85
Eastern Province B v Boland 1985/86
Natal B v Eastern Province B 1985/86
India v Australia 1986/87
Gloucestershire v Derbyshire 1987
Bahawalpur v Peshawar 1988/89
Wellington v Canterbury 1988/89
Sussex v Kent 1991
Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire 1993
Somerset v West Indies A 2002
Warwickshire v Essex 2003
Worcestershire v Zimbabweans 2003
Habib Bank Limited v Water and Power Development Authority 2011/12
Border v Boland 2012/13
Police Sports Club v Kalutara Physical Culture Club 2016/17
Windward Islands v Guyana 2017/18
Chilaw Marians Cricket Club v Burgher Recreation Club 2017/18
Negambo Cricket Club v Kalutara Town Club 2017/18
Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club v Sri Lanka Army Sports Club 2017/18
Lancashire v Somerset 2018
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa v Central Punjab 2021
Gloucestershire v Glamorgan 2024
See also
References
Bibliography