A match of cricket at any tier will end with an outcome wherein a team can either win or lose, can be terminated without a result, is tied, or ends up as a draw. This article explains how the a tie and draw are different from each other in cricket.
A cricket match declared as a tie can be seen in all three professional formats of the sport – Test Cricket, One Day International, or T20. This is called when at the end of the designated overs or time period of the match, both teams have scored the same number of runs.
A draw on the other hand is seen in test cricket only. First-class cricket that houses all the tiers of test cricket sees a match last for a minimum of three days.
Professionally, an international test match is played for five days. Across these five days each team gets to bat twice before having a result. However, in instances when one of the teams is yet to bat for the second time, or if there remains a possibility for a side to chase down a total with wickets in hand at the end of the fifth day, then a match is declared draw. Thus, a match is drawn when the scheduled days of play are over and the match has not produced a definite result.
In professional cricket, a draw results in both teams getting equal number of points when they are involved in a multi-nation competition. In test cricket, a tied match also results in both teams getting same number of points. However, a tied match in a limited overs fixture has led to continuation of play till a definite winner emerges. Various types of tiebreakers have been played historically.
Bowl-out
A bowl-out is a form of tiebreak when both teams designate five bowlers from their sides to hit the stumps that are unguarded (i.e., no batter on strike). The team that manages to hit the stumps the most at the end of five attempts wins. Should both teams manage to hit the stumps equal number of times in the first five attempts, then bowl-out continues till one of the sides misses. A bowl-out is no longer used in professional cricket and is only an exhibition feature in lower tiers of the sport.
Boundary Count
A boundary count rule was temporarily used in the tail-end of the 2010s. According to this dubious rule, in case of a tie, the winning team is the one with more boundary counts. The rebellion against this rule came in the final of the 2019 International Cricket Council’s Men’s World Cup, where England were declared the champions against New Zealand by means of a boundary count. Following this match, the boundary count rule received flak, and was eventually discontinued.
Super Over
The Super Over is the most common method used in professional cricket today for deciding a tied match’s winner. Both teams play one over each. A side is considered all-out of two wickets fall before the six balls are bowled. If both teams manage to score the same number of runs in the super over, then another super over is played till a winner is decided.
