Tony Lewis (mathematician)

Anthony John Lewis MBE (25 February 1942 – 15 March 2020)[1] was a mathematician who, along with Frank Duckworth, developed the Duckworth–Lewis method of resetting targets in limited-overs cricket matches interrupted by weather or other circumstances.[2][3]

Anthony John Lewis
Born25 February 1942
Died15 March 2020(2020-03-15) (aged 78)
EducationKirkham Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield
OccupationMathematician
Known forDuckworth–Lewis method

Personal life

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Lewis was born in Bolton, Lancashire. He attended Kirkham Grammar School[4] and graduated from Sheffield University with a degree in Mathematics and Statistics.[5]

Lewis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.[6][7]

Lewis died on 15 March 2020, aged 78.[1][8]

Career

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Lewis was formerly a lecturer at the University of the West of England (UWE).[6] In January 2008, he retired as a lecturer in Quantitative Research Methods from Oxford Brookes University.[9]

He was also a former chairman of the Western Operational Research Society[10] and was a keynote speaker at the Second IMA International Conference on Mathematics in Sport in 2009.[5] Lewis also undertook various consultancy roles in England and Australia.[9]

Duckworth-Lewis Method

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In the 1980s, Frank Duckworth had proposed a method of resetting targets in interrupted limited-overs cricket matches.[11] After the 1992 Cricket World Cup, commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins asked for a better calculation system.[11] Lewis read Duckworth's 1992 paper Fair Play in Foul Weather and together they devised the Duckworth-Lewis Method.[11] In 2014, Steven Stern became custodian of the method, and it was renamed the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method.[6][11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tony Lewis - England". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  2. ^ Longmore, Andrew (16 May 1999), "First Night: Duckworth–Lewis: The odd couple getting even with the weather", The Independent, London, retrieved 25 May 2010
  3. ^ Richards, Huw (18 February 2003), "How two statisticians became stars", New York Times, retrieved 25 May 2010
  4. ^ "Remembering Tony Lewis, cricket statistician and co-creator of the Duckworth-Lewis method". The Independent. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b IMA Mathematics in Sport Archived 2009-01-06 at the Wayback Machine conference web site.
  6. ^ a b c "Tony Lewis: Cricket statistician of the Duckworth-Lewis method dies aged 78". BBC Sport. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  7. ^ "No. 59446". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2010. p. 19.
  8. ^ Sharwood, Simon. "Cricket's average-busting mathematician Tony Lewis pulls up stumps". The Register. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Tony Lewis, co-creator of the Duckworth-Lewis method, passes away aged 78". The Cricketer. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  10. ^ Rookwood, Dan (4 March 2003). "The Duckworth-Lewis method - explained". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d Miller, Andrew (2 April 2020). "Tony Lewis, of Duckworth-Lewis rain-rules fame, dies aged 78". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
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