‘Sad’: Cricket icon, innovator dead at age 84

A cricketing figure that changed the sport forever has died at the age of 84 with cricket commentators sharing tributes.

Frank Duckworth, one half of the team who pioneered the Duckworth-Lewis method for calculating target scores in limited-overs cricket hit by bad weather, has died at the age of 84.

Along with his fellow statistician Tony Lewis, Duckworth devised the formula that was officially adopted by the International Cricket Council in 1999.

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The London-based Royal Statistical Society said in a statement: “Frank will be remembered largely for his contributions to the Society as editor of RSS NEWS, and to cricket as the co-inventor of the Duckworth-Lewis method.” Duckworth introduced a short paper, “A fair result in foul weather” at an RSS conference in 1992.

Frank Duckworth, the catalyst for the Duckworth-Lewis method of calculating targets in shortened one-day cricket matches, 2003 image.

Dr. Frank Duckworth poses after he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE). Photo by Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images.

The paper was directly inspired by the farcical ending to the 1992 World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa in Australia, when a short spell of rain played havoc with calculations and left South Africa targeting an impossible 22 runs off one ball.

Duckworth’s lecture led to contact with Lewis, and the pair worked together on a formula that was first used in the second match of England’s one-day series against Zimbabwe in 1999.

The method was renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method following the retirement of Duckworth and Lewis, after it was slightly modified by Australian statistician Steven Stern.

Cricket commentators paid tributes on Wednesday morning.

“I’m sad to report that Frank Duckworth MBE, co-creator of the Duckworth-Lewis method for adjusting targets in rain-affected cricket matches, passed away last Friday,” cricket commentator Rob Eastaway wrote on Twitter.

“His method was used just yesterday in the rain-affected World Cup match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. RIP.

Originally published as ‘Sad’: Cricket icon, innovator dead at age 84