Series · ongoing

Rain Rules

What happens to a cricket match when the heavens open, and whether the maths that decides it is fair.

Limited-overs cricket needs a result, and rain doesn’t care. Since the 1980s the game has tried one formula after another to decide what a chasing side “should” have scored when play stops: run rates, most productive overs, and finally the resource tables of Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis.

This series starts with the evidence: every rain-hit match on record, and a replay of thousands of rain-free chases under each rule to see which ones tilt the game toward the chasing side.

In this series

  1. 1Scorebook · ToolsRain Stopped PlayEvery rain-hit match in the Cricsheet archive, filterable by format, country and year.
  2. 2The Numbers · DataWho Wins When It RainsRain-free chases replayed under six rain rules, to see which ones favour the chasing side.