Frank Duckworth, who helped create the well-known DLS method for cricket, passed away at 82 years old on June 21. The English statistician, along with Tony Lewis, invented the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern System in 1997. This system was later accepted by the ICC in 2001 as the standard way to adjust targets in cricket games affected by rain.
In the recent ICC T20 World Cup 2024 match, Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by eight runs in Kingstown, thanks to the DLS method, and advanced to the semifinals on Monday, June 24. This World Cup, which has been affected by rain, has seen the DLS method used several times in the USA and West Indies.
The Duckworth-Lewis system was updated in 2014 by Australian statistician Steven Stern, who changed the rules and renamed it the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method (DLS). Tony Lewis, one of the creators, passed away at 78 years old in March 2020. Both Duckworth and Lewis were honored with the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2010.
The DLS method is used when some overs are missed because of weather or other unexpected problems. But figuring out the new target for the second team to bat is tricky because it involves some math and needs to think about different things. The DLS target should be just as hard as the first target.
But many times, teams and cricket experts have said the DLS system isn’t fair because of the targets it sets. For instance, in 2006, when India played against Pakistan, India scored a lot of runs, 328, in the first ODI in Peshawar. Pakistan had 311/7 after 47 overs when the game stopped because it was too dark. Pakistan needed 18 runs in 18 balls to win, but the DLS method said they won because the scoring rate meant their target was actually 305, giving the home team a 7-run win based on the DLS method.
