Frank and Tony strike again

In reality, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis are a pair of mild-mannered statisticians who wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone tamper with a logarithm. But in the fevered imagination of some South Africans, they take on a ghoulish aspect. And in Durban… well, let's not even go there.

Ever since the national side misread their charts here at Kingsmead and went out of the 2003 World Cup by a single run, the two names have sent shivers down local spines. "Not Duckworth/Lewis again," said one journalist as yesterday's first offering between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders was settled by recourse to what, even so, remains the fairest scoring system around. Yes, Duckworth/Lewis again.

Rain has followed the opening stages of this Indian Premier League like a crazed stalker, moving into position the evening before matches in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and now Durban, and generally putting in a menacing appearance at some stage or other. Miraculously, no game had been abandoned until Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians had to accept their watery fate last night - a fluke that a chuckling Lalit Modi on Monday night told me was an act of God. "He wanted the cricket to happen," said Modi. Rumours of a hotline to the heavens were not denied.

Kolkata seemed to bat as if they had already established a celestial link, presumably with the help of the string-puller par excellence Shah Rukh Khan, and their captain, Brendon McCullum, admitted that he and Chris Gayle had set off in pursuit of Punjab's 158 without knowing exactly what score they needed should the heavens opened. Considering what happened here six years ago, this seemed a little careless. But then this tournament is flying by the seat of its pants in more ways than one, so why stop now?

It may have been more luck than judgment that when the skies did open, Kolkata - at 79 for 1 after 9.2 overs - were six runs ahead of where they needed to be, but that did not stop McCullum pointing out that it was "not ideal at such a big tournament with such a huge worldwide following that games are being decided by Duckworth/Lewis". Rarely can two middle-aged Englishmen's names have been taken so often in vain. Remember Richie Benaud's 1992 World Cup rain rules, anyone?

Modi yearns to reach the higher, dryer ground of the veld, but Centurion and Johannesburg do not kick in as venues for another week, and for the moment the only option is to cross fingers. It's all very un-IPL-like.

The Punjabis have suffered most. On Sunday they watched in horror as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir emerged after a Cape Town shower to find their target reduced to 30 runs off 25 balls. Now they were powerless as Gayle, still the world's best batsman when giving himself room, kept Kolkata's noses in front.

Anyone hoping for some post-match wisdom from Yuvraj Singh was disappointed. "He's left in the team bus," said a spokeswoman. "It's what Kimi Raikkonen does!" For those hoping for another twist of the knife in the voodoo dolls of two English stattos - come on, someone at Kingsmead must know where they're kept - this came as no consolation whatsoever.