DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD

In cricket the Duckworth–Lewis method (D/L method) is a arithmetic way to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a oneday international or T-20 cricket match interrupted by weather or other situation. It is generally accepted to be a fair  method of setting a target, but as it attempt to predict what would have happen had the game come to its natural conclusion, it generates some argument.

The spirit of  D/L method is resources. Each side is taken two resource to use to build as many runs as possible: the number of overs they have to get; and the number of wickets they need in hand. At some point in any innings, a team’s able to score more runs depends on the combination of  two resources. Looking at the past scores, there is a very close association between the availability of these resources and a team’s final score, a correspondence which D/L exploits.

The D/L method was created by Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis. The D/L method was first used in international cricket in the 2nd game of the 1996/97 Zimbabwe vs England One Day International series, which Zimbabwe won by 7 runs and was formally adopted by the ICC in 2001 as the  method of calculating target  in rain shortened one day matches.

Various other methods had been previously used to achieve the same , including run rate ratios, the score that the 1st team had scored at the same point in their innings and targets derived by totaling the best scoring overs in the initial innings. All of the methods have flaws that are easily usable.