Duckworth - Lewis

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In two rain affected games today the Duckworth - Lewis system was used.

New Zealand after bowling England out for 158 were set an adjusted target of 165 to win in 36 overs.

India made 5/195 (29 Overs) and Sri Lanka only had to make 154 (21 Overs)

Why was one teams total increased while anothers decreased ?

England started their innings with the knowledge that they had 50 overs to make a total. 15 overs in; the rains came and then the overs were eventually reduced to 36. Therefore New Zealand knew exactly how many overs they needed to make the runs - England batted for 15 overs not knowing that this would be the case. To compensate, more runs were added to the total for New Zealand to chase.

The match between India and Sri Lanka however, both teams knew they had 29 overs to play before the start of the Indian 1st innings. India got through that 29 overs - knew how to pace themselves through that innings; then the rain came again.
Sri Lanka had a reduced target because a) the overs were reduced to 21 for them and b) India's innings was uninterrupted from its commencement.

If the rain came again in the New Zealand innings, then that 165 target would have been reduced pending on wickets lost at that time and how many overs were lost.

[therisingblues]

Nice explanation Spelly, I don't think anyone could have put the case forward better than that.
I still reckon it is wrong however. Surely England, with their lack of knowledge of the weather conditions, were in a frame of mind to pace their loss of wickets for the duration of a 50 over hit out, hence if they knew the game was to be shortened they would have been more adventurous in their batting earlier, and I think adventurous batting usually equates to a greater chance of wicket loss. England having been bowled out regardless have proven that no matter what their knowledge of the weather before the game, they were simply too incompetent.

Anyway, I am a big fan of the D/L method overall. I remember one game at the SCG a few years back where, I think it was Pakistan, with Imran Khan in fine form at the crease, blasting their opponents (I forget who they were playing, possibly the Aussies) to all parts of the ground in pursuit of a rain reduced total, when suddenly the rain came down yet again.
It had been a fine struggle between bat and ball up to that stage, and it seemed to be one the rare occassions where the RPO method had resulted in a fair contest, with the Paki's showing that they were more than up to the task. Then when the rain finally stopped and Imran came out to face up again, there was only time for one more delivery and the target had been adjusted to 24 runs... off that one delivery. I forget how it happened like that, but I think they were using a variant of the RPO system so that the second side wasn't as advantaged. They were using a method where the highest scoring overs were counted first, so that any maidens that were bowled were counted last.

D/L works the best out of all the systems, but it needs just one adjustment:
If you get bowled out short of the total, then stiff cheddar, there's no way your total can be increased from what you actually scored.