Till now 2 tests have been tied, a difference of 26 years, one cricketer was a part of both

New Delhi. In the 147-year history of Test cricket, only two matches have been tied so far. In these Tests, both teams scored the same score and the match ended in a draw. The interesting thing is that the Australian team has been a part of both these occasions. For the first time in the year 1960, the Brisbane Test between Australia and West Indies (Australia Vs West Indies) was tied. 26 years later, in 1986, this history was repeated again in the Test between India and Australia (Australia Vs India) in Madras (new name Chennai). The interesting thing is that Australia’s Bob Simpson was a part of both these matches in different roles.

In the Brisbane Test against West Indies, Simpson was not only involved as a player but he/she also made a significant contribution with bat and ball. After retiring from cricket at the age of 42, he/she joined the Australian team as a coach and was in this role in the tied Test of Madras. Simpson played 62 Tests and 2 ODIs. Apart from scoring 4869 runs with the help of 10 centuries in Test cricket, he/she also has 71 wickets to his/her name. Simpson, Australia’s coach in the tied Test of Madras, has also been the advisor of the Indian team in the 1999 World Cup.

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Simpson scored 92 runs in the Brisbane Test
Right-handed opener and leg-break bowler Bob Simpson played a useful innings of 92 runs in the first innings of the Brisbane Test and also took three wickets (1 in the first innings and 2 in the second). In this Test which started on 9 December, West Indies captain Frank Worrell won the toss and decided to bat first. The West Indies team scored 453 runs in the first innings which included a century (132) by Gary Sobers and half-centuries by Worrell, Joe Solomon (65-65 runs), Gary Alexander (60) and Wes Hall (50). Australia’s Alan Davidson took 5 wickets and Lindsay Klein took 3 wickets. In reply, Australia’s first innings ended at 505 runs and they got a lead of 52 runs. Norm O’Neill was the top scorer for the hosts with 181 runs while openers Colin McDonald (57) and Simpson (92) hit half centuries. West Indies’ Wes Hall took 4 wickets.

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Indies’ second innings ended at 284, target of 233 but…
West Indies’ second innings was reduced to 284 runs in front of the havoc of fast bowler Davidson (6/87). Rohan Kanhai (54) and Frank Worrell (65) had a significant contribution in this score. After reducing the lead by 52 runs, Australia had a target of 233 but West Indies bowlers performed brilliantly in the second innings. At one time, 6 batsmen of the team were out by the score of 92. In this difficult time, Alan Davidson (80) and captain Richie Benaud (52) raised the hope of victory by adding 134 runs for the 7th wicket. When Australia’s score was 226 runs for 6 wickets and victory was just 7 runs away, Davidson was run out. After this, Benaud was also out at the score of 228 runs. Lower order batsmen Grout and Meckiff took the score to 232 but in their haste to take a single they were both run out and the match was tied.

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Border’s bold decision made the Madras Test exciting

Similarly, in September 1986, the Australia-India Test match was tied at Chepauk ground amidst the excitement of victory and defeat. Captain Allan Border’s decision to declare Australia’s second innings at a score of 170 played an important role in bringing back the excitement of the match. Bob Simpson was also a part of this match. The only difference was that he/she was associated with this Test not as a player but as the coach of the Australian team. Batting first after winning the toss, Australia declared their first innings at 574 for 7. Indian spinner Shivlal Yadav took the maximum of 4 wickets amid Dean Jones’ double century (210) and David Boon (122) and Captain Border’s centuries (110). In reply, Captain Kapil (119) scored a century for India while Srikkanth (53), Azhar (50) and Ravi Shastri (62) scored half centuries. The Indian innings folded for 397 runs on the fourth day and on the basis of the first innings, it had to fall behind by 177 runs. The match was heading towards a dull draw but Border’s decision to declare the innings brought back the excitement. Australia declared the second innings at a score of 170/5 and gave India a target of 348 runs.

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Chetan Sharma out after an argument with Mathews, match ends in a tie
Thanks to the important contribution of the top order batsmen, the Indian team was moving towards victory at one point and the score had reached 331 runs for 6 wickets. Victory was 17 runs away and 4 wickets were remaining. Chetan Sharma was at the crease with Ravi Shastri. On this occasion, Australian spinner Matthews tried to provoke Chetan Sharma by getting into a tussle with him/her. Chetan got caught in this ‘trap’ and lost his/her concentration and lost his/her wicket on a personal score of 23. As soon as he/she was out, the Australian team quickly took the next two wickets of Kiran More (0) and Shivlal Yadav (8) and took the score to 344 runs for 9 wickets. Now 4 runs were needed for victory. Shastri took a double and a single and brought the score to par with Australia. Now only 1 run was needed and Maninder Singh was on strike. Every Indian fan’s eyes were on Maninder but he/she was LBW on Mathews’ ball and the match was tied after some ups and downs. Neither India nor Australia won, the victory was of the thrill of cricket. Australia’s off-spinner Greg Mathews took 5 wickets in both the innings. In the second innings for India, Gavaskar scored 90, Srikkanth 39, Mohinder Amarnath 51, Azhar 42, Chandrakant Pandit 39 and Ravi Shastri scored an unbeaten 48 runs.

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