FIVE YEARS' research of almost atom-splitting complexity have been condensed into a piece of arithmetic which can be done ``in two minutes, with a pocket calculator, on the back of an envelope''.

That comforting verdict comes from Tony Lewis, co-inventor with Frank Duckworth of the method which will be used to calculate revised targets in rain-affected matches in all three one-day competitions this season.

Statistician Duckworth first presented a rudimentary version of the system in 1992 and he and Lewis, a maths lecturer in Bristol, were soon engaged on a joint project which, in essence, has dissected the scoring pattern of thousands of matches to produce percentage-based tables for 40, 50 and 60-over games.

The Duckworth-Lewis method has held up well in trials and has every chance of being adopted universally in time for the 1999 World Cup.

Sir Richard has long been respected for his plain speaking and he made no concession to local sensibility when he addressed Derbyshire's pre-season dinner.

He was happy enough to talk up England, after their encouraging tour of New Zealand, and he identified Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Robert Croft and Darren Gough as ``the cream of the side, the class, the players you can build on for the future''.

Not one syllable, however, was devoted to Dominic Cork, the Derbyshire pace bowler struggling to regain his outswinging muse.

The 86 extras they conceded against Somerset beat a championship ``best'' of 81 set no less than four times in 1994, including once by Surrey.

Perhaps Surrey should match Malcolm Marshall's initiative at Hampshire last season and introduce a fining system for no balls. Their first half dozen championship games yielded only one no ball and that by off-spinner Shaun Udal.

If it had applied at the Oval, Chris Lewis's 12 no balls (worth 24 runs) would have left him £60 out of pocket.

An indignant letter from Rosenwater appears in the current issue of The Cricketer accusing the magazine of helping to perpetuate the myth ``that Bobby Peel urinated on the pitch at Bramall Lane in 1897''.

Peel's love of a tipple is reliably chronicled. He was promptly sacked by Yorkshire, but Rosenwater's diligent research has left him convinced that Peel's highly public exposure did not occur.