In the summer of 2009, as the English cricket team were just gearing up to trounce Australia in that years' Ashes series, a new pop group released an album full of cricket themed songs. That album, and the group, is named after a way of calculating targets for a rain affected one-day cricket match - The Duckworth Lewis Method.

The Group

To the disgust of many English cricket fans, the band is actually a pair of Irishmen - Thomas Walsh and Neil Hannon - portraying themselves in the roles of Duckworth and Lewis.

The Tracks

The album tracks neatly dissect gentleman's game,

The Coin Toss

The traditional start of any cricket game. The captains of the two teams meet on the field and toss a coin. The winner of the coin toss gets to decide which team bats first.

The Age Of Revolution

Named after an edition of Wisden's this track is an analysis of the current state of the game of cricket.

Gentlemen And Players

This song recalls several stories from the history of the game, when it was only played by well-bread Englishmen, as a gentle way to spend a sunny summer's afternoon. The song features some quite delicious internal rhyming, for example:

To enhance the gentry's chances they were granted the advantage of an extra stump...

The Sweet Spot

Batting

Jiggery Pokery

Bowling

Mason On The Boundary

Fielding

Rain Stops Play

What game of cricket would be complete without a weather related interuption? This is the only instrumental track on the album, the lack of vocals giving the sense that play cannot continue until this little interlude is over.

Meeting Mr Miandad

Fan devotion

The Nightwatchman

Psychology

Flatten The Hay

Childhood memories of playing

Test Match Special

The simple joy of losing 5 whole days watching TMS

The End Of The Over