More than 2000 Test matches had played in the 141-year history of cricket. Only two Tied Matches in the History of Test Cricket so far. The two incredible matches were played by the Australian team against two different teams. Australian cricketer “Bob Simpson” was involved in both matches. In the first match, he was a player while in the second match, he was the coach of the Australian team.
1st Test, West Indies tour of Australia at Brisbane, Dec 9-14 1960
The West Indies cricket team arrived in Australia in December 1960 to play a series of five Test matches. The first Test match was played from 9 to 14 December 1960 at the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane. This was the 498th match in the history of Test cricket. Frank Worrel led the West Indies team that toured Australia which included well-known batsmen like Rohan Kanhai and Gary Sobers, while the Australian team was led by Richie Benaud.
The Caribbean team won the toss and elected to bat first. In this test match, the over consisted of 8 balls. Sir Garry Sobers batted well and scored 132 runs. Australia’s left-arm medium-pacer Alan Davidson bowled five wickets for 135. West Indies scored 453 in the first innings. In reply, Australia’s opening batsman Bob Simpson scored 92 and Colin McDonald 57.
The number fourth batsman, Norman O’Neill, scored 181 runs with 22 fours. Australia scored 505 all out and took a 52-run lead over the visitors in this innings. West Indies scored 284 in the second innings. RB Kanhai scored 54 while FMM Worrell scored 65, and JS Solomon 47 was the major contribution. Alan Davidson was also successful in this inning and took 6 wickets for 87 runs.
In the second innings, West Indies gave the hosts a target of 233 runs to win. Six Australian batsmen were dismissed for a paltry 72. Therefore, Alan Davidson and Richie Benaud shared a 134-run stand for the seventh wicket. Australian tailenders added only 4 runs to the Australian team’s score.
The competition was fierce in the last moments of the match. Australia was 227 for seven and needed six runs off eight balls in the last over to win the match. Richie Benaud and Valley Grout were batting while Caribbean bowler Wesley Hall was bowling. He bowled the first ball of the over to the grout towards the young man’s thigh.
Captain Richie Benaud, who was standing at the other end, instructed him to make a run. He needed 5 runs off 7 balls. On the second ball of the over, Richie Benaud tried to play a hook shot but he was caught by Caribbean wicketkeeper Gary Alexander. He was caught out.
On this occasion, Australia’s score was 228 runs when 8 players were out. After the dismissal of Benaud, the ninth player Ian Meckiff came to bat. Played a “cut” shot on which no run was scored. The fourth ball went to the wicketkeeper on the leg side without touching McAfee’s bat. The ATW Grout asked McAfee to take a leg-bye run. Grout asked McAfee ran to take a run. The ball was bowled to the bowlers’ ends which could not hit the wickets.
Ian McAfee managed to make a run. On this occasion, the Australian team had to score four runs off four balls to win the match. Wes Hall balls a bouncer towards the grout on the 5th ball He played for the Square League where Rohan Kanhai stood ready to catch while Wesley Hall also ran to catch. The catch was lost and the Kangaroos added a run to the team’s score. The batsman at the other end, Conard Hunte, ran for the third run.
McAfee also had to side with them but Conard Hunte saw that the fielder grabbed the ball and threw it towards the wicketkeeper and he was ready to hit the wickets. Conard returned to his crease in the middle but Alexander hit the ball towards the wickets towards the batting end and was made out. Australia’s score was 232 for nine. At this stage, the last ball of the over was left and one run was needed to win the match. There were some thrilling moments, the spectators were holding their breath and waiting for the last ball of the match.
The last batsmen of Australia came from Mainland to bat LF Klein. Wes Hall bowled the last ball of the over which LF Klein played for Square Leg and Caribbean fielder Joey Solomon was standing on the square league to take a run. He picked up the ball and hit the stumps from a distance of 12 meters and LF Kline was run out at 232 runs after the last batsman was run out. (Scorecard at Cricinfo).
1st Test, Australia tour of India at Chennai, Sep 18-22 1986
In September 1986, the Australian cricket team toured India to play a series of three Test matches. The first Test match was played from September 18 to 22 at the Chidambaram Stadium in Madras (Chennai) which ended in a tie. Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
Opening batsman David Boon scored 122 runs off 258 balls with 21 fours and was caught by Kapil Dev on the ball of Shivlal Yadav. The number three batsman Dean Jones scored a brilliant double century of 210 runs off 330 balls with the help of 27 boundaries and 2 sixes and Alan Border’s century of 106 runs helped Australia to score 574 for seven.
India scored 397 runs in reply; Srikanth 53, Muhammad Azhar-ud-din 50, Ravi Shastri 62, and Kapil Dev scored 119 runs. In the second innings, Australia declared the innings at 170 for five in the fourth day’s play and gave India a target of 348 to win. The Indian batsmen batted responsibly in this inning and took their team’s score to 204 runs with two wickets in hand. The third batsman was out Sunil Gavaskar scored 90 runs at 204.
The fifth bat After Chandra Kant Pandit, no Indian batsman has been able to play well. When India’s score was 344 for nine, Ravi Shastri was on the crease with tenth-ranked batsman Maninder Singh. India needed four runs off six balls to win and their last players were batting, while Greg Mathews was bowling the last over of the match.
Greg Mathews bowled Ravi Shastri’s first ball which was lost. On the second ball, Ravi Shastri played a hook shot and scored two runs. On this occasion, the Indian team needed 2 runs off 4 balls. On the third ball, Shastri played a shot toward Square Leg, and with the addition of one run and the score of both teams became equal.
Now India needed one run with 2 balls left in the last over and Maninder Singh was standing at the batting end. Greg Mathews got the ball on which Maninder Singh failed to make a run. His fifth ball of the over hit on the pad and with a strong appeal from the Australian fielders, umpire Vikram Raju declared Maninder Singh LBW out and the Indian innings ended. The Madras Test between India and Australia was the second tie in the history of Test cricket. (Scorecard at Cricinfo)
