Salford Uni/LCCC fans = Bitter BarStewards.

[Nozza]

Sorry, but this deserves its own thread:

Lancastrian boffins claim Durham's cricket success was lucky
By Bruce Unwin
Comment
ACADEMICS claim Durham's cricket success last season was more down to good fortune than strong play on the field.

Researchers at Salford University, near Manchester, claim second-placed Durham were the luckiest side in cricket's LV County Championship.

The disgruntled Lancastrians have produced a 'shadow' table, taking into account so-called 'lucky factors', like coin toss and time lost through the weather.

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Perhaps, not surprisingly, it puts their local side, Lancashire, top, with Durham dropping to sixth.

Professor David Forrest and his PhD student Ron Dorsey studied county championship matches since 1993 to determine the value of the toss and the impact of play lost to rain.

They claim Durham played 14 more full days compared to bottom club Worcestershire, due to less rain disruption, while they believe these factors were decisive in taking the championship to Sussex, instead of Old Trafford.

Their research paper, to be published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, suggests cricket authorities should make rule changes to improve 'fairness' in the league table.

These include removing the coin toss by allowing the away team to choose who bats first, while they also advocate rescheduling matches to feature more matches are played during the usually drier months of July and August.

Prof Forrest said: "Part of sport's appeal is its unpredictability, but if the uncertainty is due to factors outside the field of play then this can damage the game's credibility.

"We're proposing a system minimising these factors, making sure it's the players who get the results and not lady-luck."

But Durham coach Geoff Cook gave their claims short shrift.

"It's nonsense and not really worth commenting on, although I suppose it would be nice if we all could all play in Dubai."

* Durham will celebrate their most successful season, winning the Friends Provident Trophy, the Pro40 Division Two title, and ending as County Championship runners-up, by meeting fans at Chester-le-Street's Civic Heart, on Monday at 1pm, before a civic reception at County Hall, Durham.

From a local rag.

Perhaps they can also do a study that shows that the rain is the direct reason for them bottling every opportunity they've had to win the county championship for the last 70-odd years.

[Batman]

Nozza - f uck off, please.

[communistworkethic]

mongtard rejects evidence shocker!

[Porrohman]

Nozza - f uck off, please.

Seconded.

[Nozza]

I'm thinking....no.

[boltonboris]

I'm thinking....no.

Even if we say please? oh wait someone did

[Montreal Wanderer]

Rather than telling poor Nozza to eff off because he's enjoying a brief moment in the sun, I'd be more worried about professors and students spending public money to discover that winning the toss does give a cricket team an advantage and that it does rain more in Lancashire than other parts of the country. I could have told them that for a fraction of the cost.

[Bruce Rioja]

Salford Uni/LCCC fans = Bitter BarStewards.

Very magnanimous of you, Nozza . Even when they offer up some form of evidence to refute what is merely your opinion? Come on, fella - buck up.

[Nozza]

I can't believe Lancashire still use the weather as an excuse for continually bottling it for 70 years...the weather even tried to help you in the final match of this season.

[boltonboris]

I can't believe Lancashire still use the weather as an excuse for continually bottling it for 70 years...the weather even tried to help you in the final match of this season.

Yep... God loves a good game of cricket

[Dr.Karl]

Rather than telling poor Nozza to eff off because he's enjoying a brief moment in the sun, I'd be more worried about professors and students spending public money to discover that winning the toss does give a cricket team an advantage and that it does rain more in Lancashire than other parts of the country. I could have told them that for a fraction of the cost.

You could have told them, but could you have proved it? It may seem trivial but research like can lead to similar techniques being used in other fields. I think this professor runs the gambling studies course at the university(dunno if its still running), which involves looking at the maths behind sports events and the management side of running casino's etc. I think he also did a report proving home bias in football matches, which even goes as far as saying that the architecture of the stadium influences the ref. All interesting stuff imv.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Rather than telling poor Nozza to eff off because he's enjoying a brief moment in the sun, I'd be more worried about professors and students spending public money to discover that winning the toss does give a cricket team an advantage and that it does rain more in Lancashire than other parts of the country. I could have told them that for a fraction of the cost.

You could have told them, but could you have proved it? It may seem trivial but research like can lead to similar techniques being used in other fields. I think this professor runs the gambling studies course at the university(dunno if its still running), which involves looking at the maths behind sports events and the management side of running casino's etc. I think he also did a report proving home bias in football matches, which even goes as far as saying that the architecture of the stadium influences the ref. All interesting stuff imv.

If the pitches will deteriorate over four days, batting first would be an advantage. There could be conditions where fielding first should prove an advantage. Ergo, winning the toss is an advantage. If you have a really good team losing more days to rain than other teams will be a disadvantage, in you are bad it may cut down on the losses and be an advantage. Ergo poor weather hurts Lancashire when they have a good team because Lancashire has poor weather when it comes to rain versus other locales. I'm not sure this requires mathematical proof. Res ipsa loquitur. On the other hand we have done very well in limited over cricket where changing weather conditions are not so significant.

Coming up with proposals for changing the game to level the playing field may be interesting, but such theories could be advanced without the detailed research. You could eliminate the coin toss altogether and let the home team choose always, for example. However, some would argue that giving the home team an advantage would work against Lancashire because we would still lose more days to rain at home than other teams. All very interesting and debatable I'm sure.

[Nozza]

You could just play all your homes games at Stanley Park, Blackpool.

[Montreal Wanderer]

You could just play all your homes games at Stanley Park, Blackpool.

When Sunderland sucked two years ago, Nozza, you were a good loser. But I have to say you are a terrible winner.

[Nozza]

You could just play all your homes games at Stanley Park, Blackpool.

When Sunderland sucked two years ago, Nozza, you were a good loser. But I have to say you are a terrible winner.

We didn't win what a really wanted, though but! Sussex did!

[communistworkethic]

Can you fecking believe it!!!!?? The first bit of sunshine in the north east for 150 years and it's the day of the Great North Run, I'm redder than sotwa caught wearing his ex wife's underwear.

[superjohnmcginlay]

Can you fecking believe it!!!!?? The first bit of sunshine in the north east for 150 years and it's the day of the Great North Run, I'm redder than sotwa caught wearing his ex wife's underwear.

Serves you right for being a mad bastard. It made me feel ill just watchin them on the tele while I was having an early doors livener in t'pub yesterday.