I sympathise with Mr Jeff Layne as a fellow sufferer of the “insolence of office and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy take” in making recommendations for WICB Competition Rules.
All the brains available to ICC do not reside in England and Australia, for which reason consideration ought to be given to improvements in the regulation of the game of cricket which originated in the West Indies and elsewhere. The Duckworth-Lewis Formula for deciding interrupted or incomplete limited overs cricket matches is neither infallible nor desirable as a universal device.
Because cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, what principle should prevail in the application of rules of competition for deciding the result of any match in which the final innings cannot be completed as schedule. There is no mathematical formula which can simulate that uncertainty (even as a “probability” – too many indeterminate variables.
The result of the recent WICB One-Day Championship must be acceptable under existing competition rules, but it is inconsistent with decisions made at other times. Leewards scored 139 for nine
in 32.5 overs (the last batsman retiring hurt). Barbados replied with 139 all out in 38 overs. The fairest result of this match by the “Comparative Method” would be obtained by comparing the scores of both sides at 32.5 overs (197 balls).
If found to be equal at that stage then the side which had lost fewer wickets would be declared the winner; otherwise the side with the higher score at 32.5 overs would be declared winner.
The match would be “tied” only if at 32.5 overs both sides had scored 139 runs for the loss of the same number of wickets. There is no complicated mathematical formula and presumption involved in this Comparative Method or Historical Record; only reference to the scorebook and matching of scores at the same stage of each side’s innings.
This is done graphically on television when scoring rates are being measured as the match progresses.
This method has been recommended to the appropriate authorities for years now without the courtesy of response with cogent reasons for not adopting it in WICB Competition Rules for Limited Overs matches.