Frank Duckworth, one of the inventors of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, passed away on June 21. He was 84. (X)
Frank Duckworth, one of the inventors of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, passed away on June 21. He was 84.
The Duckworth-Lewis method, devised by Duckworth and fellow statistician Tony Lewis, was introduced to determine results in rain-affected cricket matches. Lewis had passed away aged 78 in 2020.
The method was first used in international cricket in 1997 and was formally adopted by the ICC as the standard method for setting revised targets in truncated games in 2001.
It was used as recently as Tuesday in the ongoing T20 World Cup when Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh in a rain affected match to qualify for their first semifinal in history.
Before the method was introduced, authorities were stumped on how to create a fair run chase in weather-hit limited overs cricket matches.
At the 1992 World Cup things reached a head in the semi-final when South Africa’s target of 22 runs from 13 balls remaining was re-calculated to 22 runs off one ball.
“I recall hearing (BBC commentator) Christopher Martin-Jenkins on radio saying, ‘Surely someone, somewhere, could come up with something better,’ and I realised that it was a mathematical problem that required a mathematical solution,” Duckworth had said in an interview in 2007.
The method was renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after the retirement of Duckworth and Lewis, followed by some modifications by Australian statistician Steven Stern.
Duckworth and Lewis were both awarded MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in June 2010.
The DLS method is based on a complex statistical analysis that considers many factors like wickets remaining and overs lost, among others, to set a revised target for the team batting second.
(With Agency Inputs)
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