Cricket calculation

I've heard much advice given to beginning throwers on where to aim when playing cricket. Common pieces of advice I've heard are, "Throw at the large part of the number," and "If two numbers are open next to each other, throw between them." So, I first considered the possibility that the 18 was closed and the 20 was open. Given a dart thrower who can usually hit within the triple ring, the following is a contour plot of average throw for different aim points on the board. Throwing at the triple yeilds a higher score than throwing at the more reliable large part of the number.

But what if the 18 is also open? Here is the same thrower, but with the possibility of hitting a scoring point on the 18. While the average score does increase, there is not really any noticible difference in the way one should aim. This thrower should not aim between the 18 and 20.

Now what if it's a really bad thrower? The same calculation is done for the thrower who can usually hit the board. Even for this thrower, throwing at the 1 to miss at the 20 and 18 is not a good idea.

e-mail me at djoiner@shodor.org, or return to my homepage.