Tony Lewis fame of cricket, founder of “DLS Method” passed away

SOURCE: GOOGLE

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the death of Tony Lewis, founder of Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method used in weather-affected limited overs cricket matches.

Tony Lewis MBE passed away at the age of 78. He did his graduation in mathematics and statistics from Sheffield University. He got retired from Oxford Brookes University as a lecturer of Quantitative Research Methods.

Duckworth-Lewis method devised by Tony and his fellow mathematician Frank Duckworth was introduced in 1997 and International Cricket Council (ICC) adopted it officially in 1999. This mathematical formula is used in rain reduced limited overs cricket games across the globe.

In 1992 World Cup semi final was interrupted by rain and this formula was used and received extra ordinary response.

According to this formula lowest scoring overs were used to remove from both teams’ innings. Many years later Duckworth alongside with his fellow Steven Stem helped to revise the formula. This time credit is given to both sides. For defending side credit based on wickets they taken and credit of chasing side based on scoring runs. In 2014 Duckworth-Lewis Stern method was renamed as Duckworth-Lewis Stem.

The problem faced by this formula was that it required a detail access to a chart which reflects overly progress of teams. This problem was solved when D/L target became prominent feature of cricket scoreboards around the world.

Another limitation of this method is that it is not suitable for shortest cricket format Twenty20 matches. Despite of all limitations this method is the only option with ICC to utilize because no alternative method has yet founded.

ICC general manager cricket Geoff Allardice present tribute to Lewis: “Tony’s contribution to cricket is huge. The present day system of resetting targets in international cricket is based on the one developed by him and Frank more than two decades ago. His contribution to the game of cricket will be remembered for years to come and we send our condolences to his family and friends."

Source: DAWN