I guess this article will give many of us good idea of D/L method.
Two Brainiacs, named Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, got together and produced a system to help decide one-day cricket matches when rain interrupts play.
They called it, funnily enough, the Duckworth-Lewis method.
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So what is it then?
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It’s a mathematical formula which means a result can be reached in a reduced overs match.
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Cool. But it’d be easier to toss a coin, wouldn’t it?
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That’s hardly a fair match-up. But the D/L method is, and everyone is happy to use it.
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Ok. How does it work? I guess first you need some rain?
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Be serious for a moment, this bit’s a little tricky.
Basically two teams start a match with the same resources - the number of overs they receive and number of wickets in hand.
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Tell me something I don’t know.
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Well, if you’ll stop interrupting I’ll continue.
If a match is shortened once it’s started, so the resources are reduced.
For example, if the team which bats first had their innings interrupted, team two would often be set a larger run target to compensate.
But should the team second at the stumps be interrupted, their run target would often be reduced.
You following?
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Your pants aren’t that smarty you know! Go on.
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Ok. So these boffins came up with the equation which determines how much a run target should be altered.
Here’s an example: Let’s say that a team have lost five wickets after receiving 25 of their 50 overs when rain stops play.
At this point, using the table produced by the Duckworth-Lewis method, the team’s remaining resources are valued at 42.2%.
If 15 overs are then lost because of the weather, the innings will be completed after only 10 more overs.
The D/L method says that, with 10 overs left and five wickets lost, the team has 26.1% of their resources left.
To compensate for the lost overs, we must calculate the resource % lost.
This works out to 42.2 - 26.1 = 16.1.
If the team had been chasing a total of 250 runs, their new target is calculated in the following way.
Resources available at the start = 100%
Resources lost = 16.1
Resources available after rain interruption = 83.9%
Then reduce team one’s score in the following way. Multiply team one’s runs scored by the recalculated resources divided by the resources available at the start.
That is: 250 x 83.9/100 = 209.75.
The target is then rounded to the nearest whole number, so the team batting second would be set a target of 210 to win.
Easy, eh?
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Blimey. Bring me sunshine!
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For once I agree with you.