LONDON: Frank Duckworth, one half of the team who pioneered the Duckworth-Lewis method for calculating target scores in limited-overs cricket hit by rain or bad weather, has passed away at the age of 84.
He designed the formula along with his fellow Tony Lewis and was formally adopted by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In a statement, the London-based Royal Statistical Society said that Frank will be remembered largely for his huge contributions to the Society as editor of RSS News, and to cricket as the co-inventor of the Duckworth-Lewis method. Duckworth had introduced a short paper, titled “A fair result in foul weather” at Royal Statistical Society conference in 1992.
The paper was directly inspired by the absurd ending to the 1992 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and England in Australia, when a short spell of rain played havoc with calculations and left South Africans targeting an impossible 22 runs off one ball.
Duckworth’s lecture led to contact with Frank Duckworth, and the pair worked together on a formula that was first utilized in England’s one-day series against Zimbabwe in 1999.
The method was also renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after the retirement of Duckworth and Lewis, after it was slightly altered by Australian statistician Steven Stern.
