Duckworth-Lewis method co-creator Frank Duckworth dies aged 84

Duckworth (pictured), who passed away on 21st June, was previously editor of RSS News, taking over in 1993 until the publication closed in 2013, following upgrades to the RSS website.

In addition, Duckworth was the co-creator of the Duckworth-Lewis method of determining how to adjust target scores in cricket on rain-affected match days.

The method came about from a paper called ‘A fair result in foul weather’ that Duckworth presented at the RSS’s 1992 conference in Sheffield, which led to contact with Tony Lewis, a mathematics lecturer at the University of the West of England who suggested an analysis of one-day score sheets based on Frank’s formula.

The formula gradually evolved into the Duckworth-Lewis method, which was first used in international cricket in the second game of the 1996/97 England versus Zimbabwe one day international series and was formally adopted by the International Cricket Council in 1999 as the standard method of calculating target scores in rain shortened one-day matches.

Duckworth was elected as an RSS fellow in 1974, and had a PhD in metallurgy, with spent his entire working career prior to the RSS spent at the Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories of the Central Electricity Generating Board, which morphed first into National Power and then Nuclear Energy PLC.

He was the William Guy Lecturer for Schools in 2004 and was awarded the Chambers Medal for outstanding services to the RSS in the same year.

Duckworth also served on the Significance Editorial Board until 2010, and was awarded an MBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours List.

An RSS statement said: “Frank was a familiar and popular figure in the Society’s offices and at meetings and conferences, and he served on council from 1995 to 2000.

“Our sincere condolences go out to Frank’s family and friends at this time.”