Estimating the hazard functions of two alternately occurring recurrent events

Often two recurrent events of equal importance can occur alternately. The life-time patterns of the two events can then be of considerable interest. In this paper, we consider two such events, the inclusion and exclusion of players in a team sport, and study whether there is any inherent pattern in the time-lengths between these events. The life-time distributions are modelled and methods of estimating the model parameters suggested taking into account any relationship in the pattern of recurrence. The results are then applied to the inclusion and exclusion of players in the Indian national cricket team. As further illustration, a simulation study is made. Broad application areas are identified both in the introduction and conclusion.