Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardene has endorsed a review of the Duckworth Lewis system for Twenty20 cricket despite benefiting from the system in their Indian Premier League match against the Chennai Super Kings on Monday.
The Sri Lanka batsman stated that the time has come to judge whether the method is good enough to be used in both One Day Internationals and Twenty20 cricket.
“It has to be reviewed. Duckworth/Lewis is a method which they came up for ODIs. To my limited knowledge, they do take an average score to make that formula. I think it is somewhere around 230 or 240. So once you take an average score like that and apply that in Twenty20s, the whole thing is different,” Jayawardene said.
The Duckworth Lewis method might have worked in Kochi’s favour when their IPL game against CSK was restricted to 17 overs per side. The Chennai batsmen could not bat for complete 20 overs, which eventually restricted them from putting up a big total. The Kerala outfit had a target of 135 in 17 overs, which they achieved easily in the end.
The system was first developed by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis to tackle the problem of delayed ODI games interrupted by inclement weather or any other reason. The method was adopted by the International Cricket Council in 1999. Although it is generally considered as one of the most fair and accurate ways of calculation, it has generated some controversies as well.
The whole system works on calculating an average score and predicting the target for team batting second in both ODIs and Twenty20 cricket. That is why Jayawardene believes that the average score in a Twenty20 match should not be determined in the similar way as it is done for 50-over cricket.
“It is tough. But we need that sort of a calculation for situations like this. It is not easy. But there is room for improvement in all areas,” the former Sri Lanka captain added.
Meanwhile, the Chennai Super Kings coach, Stephen Fleming slammed the method and said, “It is a disadvantage. There is an anomaly and should not be around.”
Calling it as the biggest cause of his team’s defeat at the hands of Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Fleming also termed the method as ‘rubbish’ for the shortest format of the game.
