Tony Lewis (mathematician)

For other people with the same name, see Anthony Lewis (disambiguation).

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 MBE
Born	25 February 1942 Bolton, Lancashire
Died	15 March 2020(2020-03-15) (aged 78)
Education	Kirkham Grammar School
Alma mater	University of Sheffield
Occupation	Mathematician
Known for	Duckworth–Lewis method

Personal life

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

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

Main article: Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method

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]