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Say Team-A has a certain score and Team-B is batting with 4 balls remaining. Bowler gives a no-ball. It starts raining heavily and play is stopped immediately with 4 balls (including the free-hit) remaining.
Now match result has to be decided based on Duckworth-Lewis Method.

Let us take some hypothetical state where:
Case (1) : If Team-B has 4 normal balls, it looses.
Case (2) : If Team-B has 5 balls, it wins.
I know that these two cases have happened.

Does Duckworth-Lewis consider a case like the following ?
Case (3) : If Team-B has 3 balls and 1 free-hit, it wins.

Stating it another way : Is there a numerical value attached to free-hit, which can change the outcome of the final result ?

Intuitively, Case (3) is better than Case (1), so Duckworth-Lewis should consider it.

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The free-hit rule is more recent than Duckworth–Lewis so the original D/L method (which came into force in English domestic cricket 1997) would not have taken this into consideration. I have been following cricket for many years in England and I’m not aware of any changes to the D/L system taking the free-hit into account.

However, it is worth noting that Duckworth–Lewis does take into account wickets lost by the batting side: the more wickets you lose, the steeper your run chase will be. If you have a free hit, you are less likely to lose a wicket; this in itself should be a slight advantage to the batting side, even if Duckworth–Lewis does not consider free hits in its calculations.

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  • +1 : Correct , D/L was before free-hits, so it will not account for that unless updated. With free-hits, wickets can not be lost easily ; Runs are easier to get ; Hence it is a real advantage which might change the result. That is why I wondered if the rules had been updated recently.
    – Prem
    Jun 17, 2016 at 14:18
  • @Prem What happens if there is a run-out on free hit? There is no advantage if there is a free-hit available while we are going to calculate D/L method to decide who is the winner?
    – Gunaseelan
    Jun 21, 2016 at 7:16
  • @Gunaseelan , on a normal ball, there are many ways a bowler can get a batsman out, but on a free-hit, the batsman has the advantage and might even decide to not run, thereby ensuring no loss of wicket.
    – Prem
    Jun 21, 2016 at 14:06
  • @Gunaseelan You can be out off a free hit (I didn't say you can't), but only in three ways: run out, handled the ball, or obstructing the field (where the obstruction prevents a run out). The advantage of a free hit (from a wicket-taking point of view) is not that you can't be out but that you are much less likely to be out than off a normal delivery.
    – George Law
    Jun 22, 2016 at 0:39
  • @Prem I accept that there are several ways a batsman can get out on a normal ball. As per the question, We like to know that whether free-hit playing a part in D/L method or not? If yes, please tell me the rule where they mention it?
    – Gunaseelan
    Jun 22, 2016 at 5:23
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You can look up the D/L regulations and tables published by the ICC. It only talks about balls remaining and wickets in hand as resources. So free hits are not considered.

In order to model an end-of-game scenario like that accurately, you could arguably also want to consider who is on strike, who is bowling, whether you have any DRS reviews left, and so on. That is clearly not feasible.

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  • +1 , valid point about DRS reviews. (Power-Play and other such things can also complicate the calculations). Also agree : only balls and wickets are considered.
    – Prem
    Jun 29, 2016 at 15:35

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