Anthony John Lewis

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(25 February 1942 – 15 March 2020) was a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who, along with Frank Duckworth, developed the Duckworth–Lewis method of resetting targets in interrupted limited-overs

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 ...

matches.

Personal life

Lewis was born in Bolton,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. He attended

Kirkham Grammar School Kirkham Grammar School is a selective, co-educational independent school in Kirkham, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1549. Its roots can be traced back to the chantry school attached to St Michael's Church in the 13th century. The sc ...

and graduated from

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

with a degree in Mathematics and Statistics. Lewis was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Lewis died on 15 March 2020, aged 78.

Career

Lewis was formerly a lecturer at the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

(UWE). In January 2008, he retired as a lecturer in Quantitative Research Methods from

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

. He was also a former chairman of the

Western Operational Research Discussion Society Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and was a keynote speaker at the Second IMA International Conference on Mathematics in Sport in 2009.IMA Mathematics in Sport
conference web site. Lewis also undertook various consultancy roles in England and Australia.

Duckworth-Lewis Method

In the 1980s, Frank Duckworth had proposed a method of resetting targets in interrupted limited-overs cricket matches. After the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (officially the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992) was the fifth staging of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in Australia and New Zealand from 22 February to 25 Mar ...

, commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins asked for a better calculation system. Lewis read Duckworth's 1992 paper ''Fair Play in Foul Weather'' and together they devised the Duckworth-Lewis Method. In 2014,

Steven Stern Steven Stern is a Professor of Data Science at the Bond Business School, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. He is the current custodian of Duckworth–Lewis method (D/L method), the mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target ...

became custodian of the method, and it was renamed the

Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method The Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) is a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score (number of runs needed to win) for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circums ...

References

External links

Profile at Oxford Brookes UniversityCatalogue of Tony Lewis' papers concerning the D/L method
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Tony 1942 births 2020 deaths Limited overs cricket Academics of the University of the West of England, Bristol Members of the Order of the British Empire English statisticians Alumni of the University of Sheffield People from Bolton Academics of Oxford Brookes University People educated at Kirkham Grammar School