The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method: Extending the Duckworth-Lewis methodology to deal with modern scoring rates

The famous (and occasionally infamous) Duckworth-Lewis methodology for dealing with interruptions in limited overs cricket matches made its international debut in early 1997. For nearly 20 years, it has set the standard for target adjustment at nearly all levels of the game. In that time, though, it has not been static. In 2003, the Professional Edition of the method was introduced to handle changes to scoring patterns that were becoming apparent in modern cricket. We here introduce the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, designed to deal with the now common extreme scoring rates seen in limited overs matches, particularly Twenty20. In addition, we outline key principles governing the structure and properties of target adjustment methods and compare DLS with other proposed procedures.