Lewis of 'Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method' cricket fame dies, aged 78

Tony Lewis, one of men behind Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method used in wear-affected limited overs cricket matches, has died d 78, England and Wales Cricket Board anunced Wednesday. "It is with much sness that ECB has learned of passing of Tony Lewis MBE, d 78," said a statement. "Tony, alongside fellow mamatician Frank Duckworth, devised Duckworth-Lewis method which was introduced in 1997 and opted officially by ICC (International Cricket Council) in 1999. "Renamed Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method in 2014, mamatical formula continues to be used in rain reduced limited overs cricket games across globe." 

Lewis of 'DLS method' cricket fame dies

A career acemic, and t Welshman of same name who captained England, Lewis received an MBE (Member of Order of British Empire) for his services to cricket and mamatics in 2010.

"Cricket is deeply indebted to both Tony and Frank's contributions to sport," ECB ded.

"We send our sincere condolences to Tony's family." formula came about in response to extraordinary climax of a rain-interrupted 1992 World Cup semi-final in Sydney.

method n in use was based on removing lowest-scoring overs from each team's innings. But it produced a farcical finish to a showpiece semi-final when South Africa, who h faced challenging but achievable target of 22 runs off 13 balls to beat England, were left with impossible task of scoring 21 runs off one ball after a rain delay. Duckworth, more outspoken of founding duo -- fellow statistician Steven Stern helped revise formula several years later -- said: "I recall hearing  (commentator) Christopher Martin-Jenkins on rio saying 'surely someone, somewhere could come up with something better' and I soon realised that it was a mamatical problem that required a mamatical solution." 

big difference between Duckworth-Lewis and previous methods was that it gave credit to sides defending a target for taking wickets as well as chasing sides for scoring runs. Significantly, this meant target could be justed proportionately in event of more than one stopp. An enduring criticism of system is that it is difficult to understand without having access to a chart that shows where teams need to be over by over, for however many wickets y have lost.

But sight of a D/L target soon became a familiar feature on cricket scoreboards around world. Several sides, however, have still confused target needed to tie with total y require to win, with co-hosts South Africa being kcked out of 2003 World Cup when y me this mistake against Sri Lanka in Durban. formula has also been criticised for t being suited to Twenty20 matches, cricket's shortest format, which came into being after Duckworth-Lewis was established. alternative method, however, has yet found favour with ICC. 

Im credits: AP