Applying the Duckworth / Lewis Method

By Alan Rowley
March 29 2002

The Duckworth / Lewis Method - Applying

The procedure for setting a revised target, which is the same for any number of stoppages at any stage of the match, is as follows.

  1. For each team's innings
    (a) from the table note the resource percentage the team had available at the start of their innings;
    (b) using the table, calculate the resource percentage lost by each interruption;
    (c) hence calculate the resource percentage available.
  2. If Team 2 have less resources available than Team 1, then calculate the ratio of the resources available to the two teams. Team 2's revised target is obtained by scaling down Team 1's score by this ratio. The figure so obtained is rounded down to the next whole number to give the score needed for a tie. The target is one more run than this. The procedure by which a tie is always possible is a consequence of a change in playing conditions introduced internationally from April 1999.

  3. If Team 2 have more resources available than Team 1, then calculate the amount by which Team 2's resource percentage exceeds Team 1's. Work out this excess as a percentage of 225 [the average 50-over score in 'first class' matches and one-day internationals (ODIs)]. Rounding this down to the next whole number gives the extra runs to add on to Team 1's score to give the score to tie. Adding one run gives Team 2's target.

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