Two Days. One Game.
A Cricket Scheduling Nightmare
A Regional Cricket League needed to schedule a complex season mixing 1-day and 2-day fixtures. Their standard tools saw each day as a new game, creating phantom matches, double-booked grounds, and an unfair schedule. SchedulOpt delivered a solution that understood the nuances of cricket, turning chaos into clarity.
The Core Conflict: How a Scheduler Sees the World
Most scheduling software assumes one date slot equals one game. But a 2-day cricket fixture is a single match stretched over two weekends. This fundamental misunderstanding creates chaos. Select a view below to see the difference.
August Fixtures
Traditional Scheduler View
Compounding the Challenge
Beyond the 2-day fixture problem, the league had a web of interconnected constraints that made manual scheduling impossible and broke standard software.
Venue Scarcity
2-day matches locked up prime venues for two consecutive weekends, creating bottlenecks for junior and other senior division games that needed those same grounds.
False Data & Unfairness
By double-counting 2-day games, schedulers inflated match totals, making it impossible to ensure each team played a fair number of home, away, and total games.
Opponent Spacing
To maintain competitive integrity and variety, the league required that teams could not play the same opponent again within a 28-day window.
Unmovable Dates
High-profile rivalry games and special showcase matches were anchored to specific dates and couldn't be moved, creating fixed points the rest of the schedule had to be built around.
League Structures
Six senior divisions, plus multiple junior leagues, all needed grounds at different times—mornings for juniors, afternoons for seniors, and evenings for U16s.
Protected Calendar
The entire schedule had to respect a complete blackout period for the December holiday break, adding another layer of time-based constraints.
The SchedulOpt Solution: Layered Intelligence
Instead of a single algorithm, we built a system of layered rules that understood cricket's unique logic. The engine was customised to see a 2-day fixture as a continuation, not a duplication, transforming the schedule from the ground up.
1. Link Multi-Day Matches
The engine's first step was to recognise the two dates of a 2-day match as a single fixture record, immediately eliminating the double-counting error.
2. Apply Format-Aware Rules
Distinct constraints for 1-day and 2-day games were applied. This reserved venues across consecutive weekends for 2-day matches without creating phantom bookings.
3. Anchor Key Fixtures
Unmovable rivalry and showcase matches were locked into the calendar first, providing a solid framework for the rest of the schedule.
4. Space & Balance
The remaining games were filled in, ensuring opponent spacing, home/away balance, and respecting all time preferences and venue constraints.
5. Final Optimised Fixture
The result: a fair, balanced, and logistically sound calendar that respected both cricket tradition and operational reality.
The Result: From Chaos to Clarity
The impact of optimisation was immediate and dramatic. By applying intelligent, context-aware rules, SchedulOpt eliminated every major issue the league faced.
