Operational Research Applied to Sports

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction

   • Mike Wright

   Pages 1-17

3. The Optimal Aiming Line

   • Shaul P. Ladany, John W. Humes, Georghios P. Sphicas

   Pages 18-31

4. Using Hypergames to Model Difficult Social Issues: An Approach to the Case of Soccer Hooliganism

   • P. G. Bennett, M. R. Dando, R. G. Sharp

   Pages 32-53

5. Optimal Strategies for the Game of Darts

   • David Kohler

   Pages 54-76

6. Dynamic Programming in One-Day Cricket—Optimal Scoring Rates

   • Stephen R. Clarke

   Pages 77-86

7. Scheduling English Cricket Umpires

   • M. B. Wright

   Pages 87-96

8. Computer Forecasting of Australian Rules Football for a Daily Newspaper

   • Stephen R. Clarke

   Pages 97-108

9. Timetabling County Cricket Fixtures Using a Form of Tabu Search

   • Mike Wright

   Pages 109-127

10. A Fair Method for Resetting the Target in Interrupted One-Day Cricket Matches

    • F. C. Duckworth, A. J. Lewis

    Pages 128-143

11. Measuring the Performance of Nations at The Summer Olympics Using Data Envelopment Analysis

    • S. Lozano, G. Villa, F. Guerrero, P. Cortés

    Pages 144-164

12. The Professional Foul in Football: Tactics and Deterrents

    • M. Wright, N. Hirotsu

    Pages 165-180

13. A Mathematical Analysis of Badminton Scoring Systems

    • D. F. Percy

    Pages 181-200

14. A Branch-and-Price Algorithm for Scheduling Sport Leagues

    • D. Briskorn, A. Drexl

    Pages 201-223

15. Optimal Challenges in Tennis

    • S. R. Clarke, J. M. Norman

    Pages 224-239

16. Back Matter

    Pages 240-250

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Through key research papers from Palgrave's Journal of Operational Research, this book showcases how Operational Research can be applied to sports in a variety of ways, including: timetabling fixtures; scheduling officials; forecasting outcomes; optimizing tactics and strategy; analyzing the effects of rules and laws; planning issues, and performance measurement. The introductory chapter provides a broad overview with an examination of how this area has developed over time, and a look at its wide ranging applications to sports including football, tennis and cricket etc.

• Operational research
• operations research
• analytics
• OR
• sport
• cricket
• football
• algorithms
• data envelopment
• Data Envelopment Analysis
• dynamic programming
• operational research
• scheduling

“Operational Research Applied to Sports is one of a series of books published by Palgrave which introduces OR as it is applied to a variety of fields. … the book contains thirteen papers that had been carefully selected to cover a range of different sports. … This book focussing entirely on OR applied to sports is a welcome addition to literature.” (Hans W. Ittmann, IFORS News, Vol. 10 (3), September, 2016)

• Lancaster University, UK

  Mike Wright

Mike Wright is Professor of Operational Research at Lancaster University and has researched extensively in the area of OR in Sports since 1989. His main interests are: the practical implementations of sports timetabling and scheduling using complex metaheuristic methods; the analysis of tactics and strategy in sport; and the analysis of the potential and actual effects of changes in sporting rules and laws. He has published numerous papers in the area in a variety of top international academic journals, and presented papers at many international conferences. Mike has worked with the England and Wales Cricket Board since 1990, timetabling cricket fixtures and allocating umpires, and has done similar work for New Zealand Cricket, Basketball New Zealand, New Zealand Rugby Union, the Minor Counties Cricket Association, the Devon Cricket League, the Home Counties Cricket League and the ICC Cricket World Cups in 1999 and 2007.

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