The Duckworth Lewis Method are an Irish pop group formed by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. The Duckworth Lewis Method is also the title of the group's first album, which was released on 3 July 2009, a few days before the start of the

2009 Ashes series The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played fi ...

. A

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, the album has 12 tracks, one of which is an instrumental. The album was mixed and recorded in Dublin and was mastered at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

. Hannon and Walsh have described their album as "a kaleidoscopic musical adventure through the beautiful and rather silly world of cricket." The track "Jiggery Pokery" is a comic retelling of the

Ball of the Century The Ball of the Century, also referred to as the Gatting Ball or simply That Ball, is a cricket delivery bowled by Australian spin bowler Shane Warne to English batter Mike Gatting on 4 June 1993, the second day of the first Test of the 1993 Ash ...

incident involving Shane Warne and Mike Gatting, and features guest cameo performances from

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''N ...

, Alexander Armstrong,

Matt Berry Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. He is best known for his roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', '' Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', '' The Mighty Boosh'', '' Snuff Box'', ''Wh ...

and more. Berry also features on the track "Mason on the Boundary". On 9 September 2009 the band were put on hiatus. They wrote and recorded the theme song for the ESPNcricinfo video blog The Two Chucks. In April 2010 ''The Duckworth Lewis Method'' album was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. In an interview with the BBC, Neil Hannon confirmed that he and Thomas Walsh would be working together again in the future. In late October 2012 Hannon and Walsh confirmed they were working on a second Duckworth Lewis album. Recording sessions began in early 2013 with the intention of releasing the new recording in time for the Ashes series in the summer. In May 2013 the release date for '' Sticky Wickets'' was announced. The album came out on 28 June in Ireland and 1 July elsewhere. The release was celebrated with a short concert in Tower Records, Dublin, on 3 July. The album features cameo performances from Stephen Fry, Daniel Radcliffe, Henry Blofeld,

, and Neil Finn.

Promotion

On 21 May 2009, ''Today'' on BBC Radio 4 ran a short feature on the album, asking "Why aren't there more songs about cricket?" in which entertainment reporter (and 2006 ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' Fantasy Cricket champion) Colin Paterson interviewed Hannon and Walsh about the album. On 16 July 2009 the band appeared on the BBC's Test Match Special during the lunch break on the first day of the second Ashes Test match against the Australian team at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. They sang a new song named "Test Match Special". "The Age of Revolution" was released as a download-only single on 28 June 2009. It was announced that a limited one-track physical promotional copy of the single would be available to press. The song reflects the spread of cricket to Britain's colonies, particularly India. Hannon and Walsh were interviewed for The Chap (Aug/9 Sep Issue) about the album and cricket. Amongst the points covered were a peerage for umpire Dickie Bird, the renaming of The Oval as The Ovaltine and the reduction of cricket beyond Twenty20 to just a coin toss.

Discography

Eponymous album

All songs written and composed by Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh.

Track listing

''Sticky Wickets''

Track listing

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duckworth Lewis Method, The Irish pop music groups Cricket culture Musical groups established in 2009 Cricket in Ireland

Promotion

Discography

Eponymous album

Track listing

''Sticky Wickets''

Track listing

See also

References

External links