Points awarded in County Cricket

[Alan Malby]

In terms of how points are awarded in the County Championship, I see that: "If the scores are equal in a drawn match where play has taken place, the side batting in the fourth innings scores eight points plus any points scored in the first innings, and the opposing side scores five points plus any points scored in the first innings."

Why has the ECB introduced a new category of drawn match? The side batting fourth may have been been 9 wickets down, wasting time and only scoring runs through edges just missing the stumps!

[Max Sawyer]

Draws are far less common than they used to be, so why not 2 points for a win, one for a draw (or tie) and that's it? Or 3 and 1, to encourage positive play.

[Jonathan Winsky]

For as long as I have taken an interest in the County Championship regulations, the regulations have mentioned about what happens when a match finishes in the fourth innings with scores level. An example of this would be when a team is set a target of 215, and the match ends with them on 214-6.

In this scenario, I believe I am right in saying that the team batting last receives the equivalent amount of points as a tie, whereas their opponents receive the equivalent amount of points as a draw. This is because the batting team would have arguably met the criteria for a tie, whereas the bowling team would have arguably only met the criteria for a draw, if a tie is defined as scoring as many runs as your opponents having seen both of your opponents’ innings come to a close (whether through being all out or declaring), and a draw is defined as the match not seeing either team take 20 wickets nor score more runs than the other.

To hopefully explain my point more clearly, if the batting team finishes on 214-6 chasing 215, then to award both teams the amount of points awarded for a tie would actually reward the bowling team for letting their opponents make 214 instead of anything up to 213, while awarding both teams the amount of points awarded for a draw would actually punish the batting team for reaching 214 instead of anything up to 213. Therefore, they should receive a different amount of points from the match, plus of course any bonus points gained.

As exciting as all this is, Wikipedia suggests that this type of draw has not happened in the County Championship in this modern era of awarding points for more than just wins, although it has happened in two Test matches. Prior to 1948, a match would be considered tied if the teams were level, regardless of whether or not the team batting last were all out.

[adelaide]

I instinctively thought that a drawn match with scores level had happened in the Championship in modern times but it is beyond my research skills to track done what might be a non-existent needle in a giant haystack.

I've never seen a tied match. Or a hat trick for that matter, though someone much more cynical than me might suggest that turning up when Middlesex are batting would increase the chances.

Logically, the bowling team should get tie points if the scores finish level with nine wickets down, because each side is prospectively within one ball of winning.