DLS method

The DLS method (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) is the calculation used to set a fair target when rain or bad light shortens a limited-overs match.

Its central idea is that a batting side has two resources, overs remaining and wickets in hand, and that the two combine into a single percentage. A side with 50 overs and ten wickets has 100 per cent of its resources; one with 20 overs and three wickets left has far less. When an interruption removes overs from a match, DLS works out what share of resources each side had, and scales the target so that the team batting second needs the same proportion of what it has as the first team achieved with what it had. If the match cannot be finished, the side ahead of the par score wins. A minimum number of overs must be bowled for a result, 20 a side in an ODI and five in a T20.

For a captain the method is a live tactical fact, not an accountant's footnote. When rain is forecast, the batting side wants to be above par with wickets in hand, which sometimes means batting more carefully than the scoreboard suggests. The toss decision also shifts, because chasing under DLS means knowing exactly what you need.

The method was devised by Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis and updated by Steven Stern, whose name was added in 2014.