This set Duckworth thinking, and at the 1992 RSS conference in Sheffield, he presented a paper, “A fair result in foul weather”, suggesting a better formula for setting rain-affected targets.
Tony Lewis, another Lancastrian cricket fan, and a mathematics lecturer at the University of the West of England in Bristol, heard about it. Realising that he and Duckworth were neighbours he got in touch, and the pair began meeting regularly at the Pickwick Inn in Lower Wick.
In 1995 Duckworth had his “Waikiki Moment”, and the Duckworth-Lewis Method had its first outing during a one-day international in Harare between Zimbabwe and England in January 1997: Zimbabwe had made 200, but the tourists, having eight overs to rain, were given a D/L target of 185, which they failed to reach.
The Method was formally adopted by the International Cricket Council in 1999 and has been in use ever since. In 2014 the Australian statistician Steven Stern picked up the baton, adapting D/L to suit modern scoring trends, especially in the era of T20 cricket (20 overs per side), and the technique is now more correctly referred to as the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method.
When Neil Hannon, of the melodic rock band Divine Comedy, formed a new, cricket-themed duo with Thomas Walsh, he called it the Duckworth Lewis Method; their first and only album, released in 2009, featured such tracks as “The Coin Toss”, “Gentleman and Players” and “The Nightwatchman”.
Duckworth and Lewis were appointed MBE in 2010.
Frank Duckworth is survived by his wife Jeannie, whom he met through mutual friends, and by their daughter.
Frank Duckworth, born December 26 1939, died June 21 2024