The DLS method is an attempt to set a statistically fair target for the second team's innings, which is the same difficulty as the original target. When overs are lost, setting an adjusted target for the team batting second is not as simple as reducing the run target proportionally to the loss in overs, because a team with ten wickets in hand and 25 overs to bat can play more aggressively than if they had ten wickets and a full 50 overs, for example, and can consequently achieve a higher run rate.

The target score in cricket matches without interruptions is one more than the number of runs scored by the team that batted first. After the retirements of Duckworth and Lewis, Professor Steven Stern became the custodian of the method and it was renamed to its current title in November 2014. It was introduced in 1997, and adopted officially by the ICC in 1999. The method was devised by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis (not to be confused with former cricketer Tony Lewis), and was formerly known as the Duckworth–Lewis method ( D/L). The Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method ( DLS) is a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score (number of runs needed to win) for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. Scoreboard at Trent Bridge indicating that bad light has stopped play.

Cricket score system