Top five One Day matches that ended in a tie

West Indies and Pakistan played a tied-match at St Lucia last night with Jason Holder managing to scramble through for a second run as Umar Akmal failed to gather an incoming throw from the boundary. The thrill of last ball finishes epitomizes all that is good in the shorter format of the game. After competing for a large part of the game, it all comes down to the last run or the last wicket. Every team that plays cricket, competes to win and in such a situation a tie leaves a strange taste in the mouth of the teams in most situations whereas it creates a spectacle for audiences that has a long lasting after taste.

The shortest format of the game produces a greater probability of such results and hence a system of deciding the tie has been formulated. However, the super-over or the bowl out remains excessive to the concept of an ODI as a tie seems a justified result unless a piece of silverware is at stake. The 3rd ODI between Pakistan and West Indies will join the gradually evolving list of tied one-day international matches. The time is ripe for us to have a look back at some of the most exciting tied one-day internationals of the past:

South Africa vs. Australia, 1999 World Cup, Semi-Final

Who can forget this match! Certainly the greatest of all tied matches as it left a legacy that continues to live in South Africa’s ‘choker’s tag’ not to forget that Australia won the world cup eventually. Chasing Australia’s moderate total of 213, South Africa slipped after a steady start as the middle order collapsed including a Hansie Cronje duck. Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes resurrected the innings but deserted the innings at a critical stage leaving Lance Klusener to finish the job. One of the greatest finishers of the game, Klusener was dropped by Paul Reiffel at the boundary line when the Proteas required 16 runs of 8 balls with only a single wicket in hand. With 9 runs required of the last over, Klusner was holding his nerve has he pummeled Damien Fleming for two boundaries of the first two balls. South Africa needed a single run to win. Klusner pulled the ball down the wicket and called for a run but Donald dropped his bat and did not respond as the two batsmen ended at the bolwer’s end as Australia completed the run-out with Fleming relaying the ball to Gilchrist. Australia went through to the final having a superior position on the super six table.