D/L: ICC looks at options, Indian formula in fray

Cricket fans who’ve long railed against the unfathomable — and at times simply unjust — Duckworth/ Lewis system of deciding r...

Cricket fans who’ve long railed against the unfathomable — and at times simply unjust — Duckworth/ Lewis system of deciding rain-affected ODIs have hope at hand. Next February, the International Cricket Council’s Chief Executives Committee will meet to review the methods for adjusting ODI targets — and one of the proposals will be from V Jayadevan, an engineer from Kerala. At its recent meeting in Pakistan, the ICC decided to seek a thorough independent assessment of D/L and all the competing proposals it has received over the years.

Jayadevan, who has been invited to participate in the meeting, said the assessment would be carried out by David Kendix, a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and also a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of India.

Kendix — since 1995 the official scorer at Lord’s — has advised both ECB and ICC on the drafting of playing regulations and in 1997 conducted one of the original independent assessments of the D/L method. More recently, he developed the official ICC Test and ODI rating systems.

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The scope of Kendix’s analysis, Jayadevan said, would include the following:

• the reasonability of adjusted targets under a wide range of match scenarios

• the consistency between sequential targets following multiple interruptions

• a suitable method for describing the result of an interrupted match

• compatibility with current or prospective playing regulations

• usability of calculations routines required to generate adjusted targets

• the practical impact on a match in progress.

ICC has entered into a licensing agreement with Duckworth and Lewis whereby the software called CODA (Cricket One Day Analysis) and the intellectual property is now owned by ICC. ‘‘However, our Cricket Committee is keen for ICC to continue to review, a recommendation regarding the most suitable method,’’ says Clive Hitchcock, cricket operations manager of the committee.

Of captains and their fingers

		Ponting hopes to protect thumb Ricky Ponting, all set to fly to India on Friday, said he does not expect to be targeted by the Indian bowlers and will not use a brace to protect his thumb. Ponting missed the first two Tests against India in Chennai and Bangalore and is expected to play only in the fourth Test starting in Mumbai on November 3. “They’ll find it hard to hit this one. It’s the top hand (of the grip). Had it been the bottom hand, then they might have had something to aim at,” the skipper was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph. Ponting also said he would not rule himself out of fielding in the slips, although he conceded he would be wary of bad bounces. Ganguly keeps his crossed for Sachin Hoping to avail of batting genius Sachin Tendulkar’s services in the third Test against Australia at Nagpur from next week, Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly today expressed the confidence that the three-month lay-off would not have any bearing on the willower’s performance once he was fit. “I don’t think the lay-off will be a problem. He is a cricketer par excellence. He will be able to get back into rhythm straightaway,” Ganguly told newspersons here. But he said that he had not spoken to Tendulkar, who was recuperating from a painful tennis elbow, for the last two-three days. “So, I don’t know the latest situation pertaining to his fitness”.