Readers may be aware of the Duckworth/Lewis method for deciding how many runs the second team should score in a game of cricket foreshortened by rain, in order to beat the first team; a triumph of communicating complex mathematical ideas to a lay audience, described in an article by Frank Duckworth.

Duckworth describes some of the problems with more linear methods for deciding such matters and high profile problems that led to the acceptance of D/L as an alternative. Now, an article on the ESPNcricinfo website explains, a method developed by V. Jayadevan (the VJD method; in a paper in 2002) may perform the same trick – dealing with some of the inconsistencies which arise in certain scenarios using the D/L method. The article goes through three scenarios to illustrate the differences between the two methods.

However, as Frank Duckworth explains, getting D/L accepted was as much about communicating with a maths-phobic community as it was about a clever method.

Sources:
The rain equations: A look at how the Duckworth-Lewis and VJD methods work in different situations.
The Duckworth/Lewis method: an exercise in Maths, Stats, OR and communications (F. Duckworth).
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