How is a rain-shortened cricket match decided?

KohakuIf rain shortens a match, how do you decide the winner? Let me show you a clever idea from cricket.

The answer in 30 seconds

First, let me give you the answer in 30 seconds.

When rain shortens a match, the target for the team batting second is reset with the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method. It works out each team's "scoring resources" from the overs left and the wickets lost, and puts both sides on equal terms.

A long green cover over a cricket pitch in the rain — When it rains, the pitch is covered and play is stopped for a while.Photo: Acabashi / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Overs lost to rain

In cricket, the team that scores more runs in the set number of overs wins. In a 50-over match, each team has 300 balls to bat and 10 wickets (the number of times a batter can be out). But if rain stops play and the team batting second loses part of its share, keeping the original target would be unfair.

How the target is reset

That is where the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, or DLS, comes in. According to the England and Wales Cricket Board, it resets the target in proportion to the "run-scoring resources" each team has. The resources depend on a combination of the overs left and the wickets lost. A full 50-over innings counts as 100%, and a table lists the resources for every stage of a match.

KohakuIt doesn't just divide by the number of overs. It is quite carefully thought out, isn't it?

The more wickets in hand, the more is lost

The method does not simply divide by the number of overs. ESPNcricinfo explains that losing overs late in an innings usually hurts more than losing them early. And a team that is only 2 wickets down loses more from an interruption than a team that is 6 down after 20 overs, because it could have scored more in the remaining overs.

Figure: How the target is reset after rain

How it began

The ICC says the method grew out of the 1992 World Cup semi-final. After a short rain delay, South Africa went from needing 22 runs off 13 balls to needing the same 22 runs off one ball. To fix this unfairness, the English statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis devised a method, and on 1 January 1997 it was used for the first time in an ICC-sanctioned match, Zimbabwe v England in Harare. Later, Stern's name was added, and it became today's DLS method.

Want to know more?

According to the ICC, after 1997 the method was also used in 1998 in New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, India and the West Indies.
ESPNcricinfo explains that wickets lost after an interruption do not change the target. What matters is how many wickets had been lost when play stopped.
The England and Wales Cricket Board says the resource table is prepared ball by ball for matches of up to 50 overs.

KohakuSo it is a calculation that puts both teams on equal terms after the rain takes away some of their share. I learned something today.

Quick quiz: test yourself

How is the target set after rain shortens a match?

Show the answer

By overs and wickets left
By simply dividing the overs
By the umpires' discussion

By overs and wickets left The DLS method works out each team's resources from the overs left and the wickets lost, then resets the target.

Sources

Ten years at the top for Duckworth-LewisInternational Cricket Council (ICC)
Duckworth/Lewis/Stern Methodology of Re-calculating the Target Score in an Interrupted MatchEngland and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
How the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method worksESPNcricinfo
ICC Media Information: Duckworth/Lewis calculations explainedInternational Cricket Council (ICC)

This article was written after checking the sources above as of 2026-10-03. Explanations may change as research progresses. Photo credits are shown below each photo.