The match
Team 1 (batting first)
Team 2 (chasing)
Revised target
Uses the published Duckworth-Lewis Standard Edition resource table, read by the ball. Official international and domestic matches use the DLS Professional Edition software, whose numbers can differ by a few runs, so treat this as a close estimate and check with the match officials.
Run rate
Rates
Net run rate (tournament)
A DLS calculator answers the question everyone asks when the covers come off: what do they need now? Team 1 make 250 in their 50 overs. The chase is 120 for 2 after 25 when it rains, and 10 overs go. Team 2 now need 206 from 40 overs, so 86 off the last 15. This free calculator does that sum from the Duckworth-Lewis resource table, and it gives you the par score too.
How the DLS calculator works
The method treats overs and wickets as two “resources” a batting side has. Fifty overs with all ten wickets in hand is 100%. Every over bowled and every wicket lost uses some up, and the table says how much. Lose overs to rain and the side loses resources.
The calculator reads the table by the ball, not just whole overs, then compares the two teams:
- If Team 2 have less resource than Team 1 used, the target is scaled down: 250 × 82.1% = 205.25, rounded down to 205, plus one to win.
- If Team 2 have more (rain cut Team 1’s innings short), the target goes up by G50 times the difference. G50 is the average score in a full 50-over innings, set at 245 for professional one-day cricket.
Par score
The par score is what Team 2 needed to have when play stopped. Tick “No more play” and the calculator tells you who won and by how many runs. In the example, par at 25 overs and 2 down is 98. On 120, the chasing side would win by 22 runs if it never stopped raining. That’s why wickets matter as much as runs in a rain-hit chase: at 120 for 5 the par jumps to 144, and the same score loses.
Professional vs Standard Edition
International and county matches run the DLS Professional Edition, a computer program that the ICC doesn’t publish. This page uses the published Standard Edition table, the one club and league cricket uses. The two usually agree within a few runs, but for a big T20 chase with a short second innings they can differ more. For an official result, the umpires’ figure wins.
Run rate and net run rate
Under the DLS panel there’s a plain run rate calculator. Enter runs and overs (write 31.2 for 31 overs and 2 balls) and you get the current rate. Add the target for the required rate. The net run rate box works out the tournament tie-breaker: runs per over scored minus runs per over conceded, with the full overs counted if a side was bowled out. For a whole tournament, match by match, and the score you need to qualify, use the net run rate calculator.
Looking for something to do while it rains? The darts checkout calculator and the Elo calculator are next door.