ICC condoles demise of DLS method founder Tony Lewis

Image credits: ICC official website

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday expressed its sadness on the sad demise of mathematician Tony Lewis, who co-developed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern system of calculating target scores in rain-affected limited-overs matches.

Lewis, who passed away at the age of 78 recently, had developed the original Duckworth-Lewis method jointly with Frank Duckworth, which was adopted by the ICC in 1999. After the retirements of Duckworth and Lewis, Steven Stern became the custodian of the method and his name was added to the system in 2014.

Paying tribute to Lewis, ICC General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice said that the former's contribution to the game is huge as the current system of resetting targets in international cricket is based on the one developed by him.

"Tony’s contribution to cricket is huge. The present day system of resetting targets in international cricket is based on the one developed by him and Frank more than two decades ago," the ICC press release quoted Allardice as saying.

"His contribution to the game of cricket will be remembered for years to come and we send our condolences to his family and friends," he added.

Lewis, a graduate in mathematics and statistics from Sheffield University, retired as a lecturer of Quantitative Research Methods from Oxford Brookes University. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2010.