Since moving to Lady Bay, I’ve started attending my local cricket club. Originally, I went down solely to watch and score a game by myself as a form of meditation (I described it to Kate as a “sports version of the adult colouring books”, but I’m not sure how much truth there is in that). However, I ended up being roped in to score for the team (Saturday 3rd XI, if I recall). Since then, I’ve scored for the Saturday 1s, 4s, and Sunday 1s.
In my (limited) experience so far, I’ve used a variety of different scoring tools and techniques. I think that any scorer will have a natural preference to one approach or another, likely influenced by pen/paper vs digital and the various features/workflow.
Scoring Options
Traditional Scorebook
The primary, and probably the most daunting way for a beginner, of scoring is using a traditional scorebook. I’m glad that this was the way I learned to score some 20 years ago, as I think I’d be a bit put off to do it now. Once you get the hang of it, however, it’s not too difficult – though I do always end up saying a silent prayer at the end of the game that everything adds up.
My struggles with this approach are mainly to do with how much you have to do once a wicket falls: The dismissal must be recorded for the batsman and the bowler. The fall of wicket needs to be updated. The batsman’s totals (runs, balls faced, boundaries) need to be added up. There’s an argument that this isn’t necessary to do immediately, but woe beside the scorer that can’t tell an outgoing batsman whether he beat his high score for the season or not!
Without a digital solution to hand, I think this is probably the best/most comprehensive way of recording a game. However, with various apps for iOS or MS Windows programs, unless you are scoring for the artistry of it, or feel very comfortable with the approach, it might not be the gentlest of introductions for new scorers. I’d say most clubs and teams up and down the country are probably struggling for a scorer week-to-week, so perhaps an alternate option might be the best way of finding someone to step up.
PlayCricket Scorer
After doing a few online courses and feeling ready to officially score a game, I tentatively shuffled down to the ground (fineliners and tipex in hand) to be greeted with an iPad and the PlayCricket Scorer app. This is available on iOS.
The app is pretty straight forward: set the lines up before the game, then go through using the UI for a run a ball. The interface is clean, it’s easy to use – there are really no problems with it. It’s sometimes tricky to undo changes or correct mistakes, but other than that, it’s great for new scorers.
The app also works in sync with FrogBox to produce a pretty professional looking stream, if you have that set of kit.
My main criticism of it is that it feels like it takes away a bit of soul/artistry from scoring and reduces the role to simply punching numbers on a screen. This is fine, but it greatly reduces my enjoyment of scoring – I’d probably rather just sit and watch the game than actively enjoy my scoring.
A secondary criticism is that this (and PCS Pro) tend to rely on an opposition having all of their players registered and inputted into the system (neither of which should be taken as a guarantee). If the players aren’t listed on the system in advance, and you don’t have internet at the side of the pitch, you’re going to be struggling to get this to work.
I do think this is a great option for anyone first getting into scoring, have been “stitched up” to do it, or for children – but it does feel like it’s lacking some depth/challenge/richness that other approaches might bring.
PCS Pro
I love PCS Pro. It provides the complexity and reference points of a scorebook, with the ease of use of the app (easier in some respects). It provides a great degree of control when scoring a game, customisable layouts, and can be incredibly quick to use once you pick up on the keyboard shortcuts.
In terms of additional features, you can also record a shot chart, pitch chart, keeper location and whether the bowler is going around the wicket or not. I personally don’t use those, but if the first team coach thought it might be useful, then I could look into doing it.
On the downside, this does require a PC. I had to purchase Parallels for Mac so that the software would run, which is fine, but a fairly significant expense.
Unfortunately, with the club wanting to use Frogbox, this meant that PCS Pro is no longer viable and we need to use the PlayCricket Scorer app (same developers). It would probably be my preference to use PCS Pro (I still do this for away games), but with the streaming, I’d rather not have two digital options.
Linear Scoring
The final approach I’ve been trying recently (and rather like) is Linear Scoring. This is another pen and paper technique, and I like it for a few reasons:
- The main one is that it’s always extremely frustrating (when doing a scorebook approach) for people to ask how many runs a batsman is on (and how many balls are faced). Unless you’re consistently adding these up, the truth is that you don’t really know and there’s no way to find out other than by counting everything up at the end. Linear scoring gives an over-by-over account of all batsman and bowler statistics so this information is much more accessible.
- You can print out a linear scoring sheet at home without needing to purchase a “proper” scorebook. I’m not sure if this ends up being cost efficient, but if you don’t plan on scoring 100 innings and just fancy doing a game to relax, it’s pretty sound.
- It’s very quick – you don’t need to enter things in multiple places.
A full explanation of how Linear Scoring works can be found on the RunsWktsOvers YouTube Channel. This is a really excellent illustration and how I first learned how to do it.
A drawback (pointed out to me by a fellow scorer) is that there’s no “tally”, which is a useful part of a normal scorebook. This is true, and is something I do end up missing, if I’m not using using something else (e.g. PCS Pro) at the same time.
Conclusion
It’s probably important to point out that it’s generally seen as “good practice” in the league that if we’re using a digital option (e.g. PlayCricket Scorer), we should also have an offline/paper recording in case of technological failure. Now, with two scorers to most (all?) games, and without getting into systemic risk, we could argue that the risk of both digital solutions going down is very small, but that’s not really here nor there.
As such, my set up is usually something like this:
Home: PlayCricket Scorer (if we’re using the FrogBox), Scoreboard Panel, Linear Scorebook
Away: PCS Pro, Linear Scorebook.