Cricket is often bemoaned, at least by those that don’t understand it, as being boring and overly complicated. One of the classic gripes, said to be an American point of view, is to question how a game can go on for five days and still end up as a draw. Well, on July the 3rd, 2024, we saw a game in the County Championship (Division Two) last four days and end up as a tie!
Those familiar with cricket will know just how incredible this is, whilst everyone else may be wondering what the difference between a draw and a tie is. Before we look at the unbelievable clash between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, let’s start by explaining what the difference is.
Draw or Tie?
Draws are not possible in one-day cricket, which is usually played with 20 or 50 overs per side. However, in longer forms of the game, which in England means five-day Tests, between international teams, or four-day games domestically between the counties, both ties and draws are possible. A draw is a very common outcome and after the tie between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, when all teams in the second division had played nine games, there had been 22 drawn games. Two teams, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, had drawn seven of their nine matches.
A draw occurs when the team batting second is unable to score enough runs to win but still has wickets left at the end of the game. To win, they have to surpass their opponent’s total runs, whilst their opponents have to take all 10 of their wickets in the second innings. If neither of these things happens by the end of the final day, the game is a draw. A tie occurs, as we shall see, when the team batting second amasses the same number of runs as the one which batted first and then at that very point loses their 10th and final wicket. In other words, they lose their last wicket and the scores are level. Ties are vanishingly rare, as we will explain.
Gloucestershire & Glamorgan Tie Incredible Clash
Given how uncommon ties are, they are something of a news story whenever they occur. However, not all ties were created equally and the clash between these two teams in 2024 really was something else.
The West Country outfit batted first and were dismissed for just 179. That itself was some feat given they had been 104/9 before a fine 10th wicket stand gave their tally a veneer of respectability. Glamorgan made it to 104/3 but then slumped to 108/6 before being all out for 197. On what appeared to be a very tough wicket, a small lead might have been valuable and at this stage, it seemed almost certain we would have a winner, with well over two and a half days of cricket left.
However, the pitch became easier to bat on, and the hosts racked up a massive 610/5 declared in their second innings. Cameron Bancroft, out for a duck in the first innings, made 184, Miles Hammond made a rapid 121, and James Bracey top scored with an unbeaten 204. Scoring at 5.25 runs per over, Gloucestershire believed they had left themselves plenty of time to bowl out their opponents and claim the win.
World Record Chase Begins
Glamorgan needed 593 runs to win, whilst the home side needed to take their 10 wickets. The previous highest run-chase in first-class cricket was 541, back in 2010 in India’s domestic league, and so Gloucestershire were overwhelming favourites.
Billy Root, Joe’s brother, was the first man out, with the score on 67, but he had made a brisk 46 and batting looked straightforward enough. Even so, with a huge weight of runs and history on their side, Gloucestershire were still fully expected to win. At 156/3 that was still the case but then a fine partnership between Marnus Labuschagne and skipper Sam Northeast took the Welsh side to 309/3 before Aussie Labuschagne was dismissed.
Glamorgan’s middle and lower order all did their jobs though and at one stage they were 509/6 and seemingly on top. However, when Northeast was out they were 544/8 and the home team must have fancied their chances. Andy Gorvin then provided Mason Crane with some support but when the former was bowled by Marchant de Lange Glamorgan were 561/9 and running out of both time and wickets.
However, Crane managed to take most of the strike and with number 11 Jamie McIlroy in support the former England spinner edged his side towards the most unlikely of unlikely victories. Crane hit three fours in the 150th over, his partner managing another with the last ball of the 151st. In the final analysis, they needed two runs off what was the last over of the day and indeed the match.
Ajeet Singh Dale took the ball, with Crane on strike, and the batting side now favourites. In the 152nd over of the innings Dale managed to produce four consecutive dot balls, Crane turning down a single to keep the strike, and the pendulum had swung once again. Crane, who would finish not out on 43, then did take a single off the penultimate ball to take his team to 592/9 and bring the scores level.
Number 11 McIlroy was on strike, needing a single to win the game. If he played out a dot ball the game would be draw, whilst the best that the hosts could hope for was to take the final wicket with the final ball and earn a tie. And, of course, that is what happened! McIlroy edged it behind to Bracey who leapt to take a superb catch before racing off in jubilation and being mobbed by his teammates.
The game had seen almost 1,600 runs, 35 wickets, and more ups and downs than all the rollercoasters at Alton Towers combined, before ending with the scores level. The game was a tie, from the very last possible ball of the day, with teams earning 11 points from four days of captivating, magical, and at times crazy, cricket.
Are Ties Rare?
This was the first County Championship tie in six years. That it occurred in such a bizarre game, with both sides dismissed for under 200 in the first innings, before scoring huge totals at the second attempt, made it all the more remarkable.
As said, ties are incredibly unusual, being so rare that bookmakers typically do not even offer odds on them occurring – or certainly not as part of the main match result market. In Test cricket there have been just two tied games in the whole history of the sport, dating back to 1877. That is to say, there have been just two ties in almost 2,500 Tests. So yes, ties are indeed very rare!