The rather renowned English mathematician Tony Lewis was one of alongside his fellow friend had created one of the most controversial method used in international cricket, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, earlier famous as the Duckworth-Lewis method has died aged 78.

Alongside fellow mathematician Franck Duckworth, Tony Lewis had created a that would help the International Cricket Council in deciding the fair run chases when the white ball matches are affected due to rains or other weather reasons. The duo introduced the formula way back in 1997and it was officially adopted by the ICC after the World Cup in 1999.

On Wednesday, the ECB relased That said “It is with much sadness that the ECB has learned of the passing of Tony Lewis MBE, aged 78. Tony, alongside fellow mathematician Frank Duckworth, devised the Duckworth-Lewis method which was introduced in 1997 and adopted officially by the ICC (International Cricket Council) in 1999.”

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The Duckworth -Lewis method was often criticized for it’s difficulty before the Australian statistician Steven Stern came into the picture. The Australian helped in revising the formula in 2014.  The ICC used method was renamed to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method back in 2014 as a tribute to recognize the efforts of the Australian Statistician.

“Renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method in 2014, the mathematical formula continues to be used in rain reduced limited overs cricket games across the globe. Cricket is deeply indebted to both Tony and Frank’s contributions to the sport. We send our sincere condolences to Tony’s family,” the ECB said.

The need for a new methodology became very clear when the 1992 world cup semi-final between England and South Africa was curtailed due to rains.  The South African team was quite comfortable when the Proteas needed a manageable 22 runs from 13 deliveries. However, after the rains affected the match, the South African camp was Sell shocked as the revised target demanded the Proteas chance an impossible 21 runs from a single delivery to win the semi-finals.

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Back in the early days’ commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins had made a public appeal to the general public for coming up with a better methodology.

Recalling the time in an earlier interview, Lewis’s fellow partner, Duckworth had said, “I recall hearing (commentator) Christopher Martin-Jenkins on the radio saying ‘surely someone, somewhere could come up with something better’ and I soon realized that it was a mathematical problem that required a mathematical solution.”