The rain rule applies to a cricket match that is interrupted by rains. This is also known as the Duckworth-Lewis method and applied to one-day cricket matches that are rain-interrupted. The term was named after Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis who devised the mathematical formula on how to decide the winner or such rain-affected matches. In this case, results are always reached through reduced overs match.
Frank Duckworth
When Is The Rain Rule Used?
During the start of a cricket match, both teams have the same number of resources, same number of overs and number of wickets in hand. When a match is shortened, the resources are also reduced. The team that bats first will have their innings interrupted while the other one has a larger number of resources left to compensate for the interrupted match. When a team in stumps is interrupted, their run target will be reduced. To be able to decide who wins in a one-day cricket match that is interrupted, most likely by rain, Duckworth and Lewis formulated an equation that will determine how much a run target should be altered.
How Does the Rain Rule Works?
In a match where a team lost five wickets after receiving half of their 50 overs, stops playing due to rain. The team’s remaining resources are valued at 42.2% according to the Duckworth-Lewis Method. If 15 overs are lost due to the rain interruption, the innings will be completed after only 10 more overs. A team who has 10 overs left and five wickets have 26.1% of their resources left. To be able to calculate the resources lost and compensate for the lost overs, the resources % lost will be equivalent to the difference of the remaining resources of each team. The resources available after the rain interruption is calculated by getting the difference of 100% or the total resources available during the game by the total number of resources lost to compensate the lost overs. This number is divided by 100 and multiplied to the team score. The team with the highest score wins the rain-interrupted match.