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Did you Score at the Weekend?

By Lynne Davis

Duckworth-Lewis, Frindall Method, Last hour calculations, batting and fielding penalties – all a mystery to the average player, but bread and butter for those who provide the results and statistics the Cricket world relies on to have any sort of competition, league or trophy.  Without somebody to keep the score, there really would be no point in playing…

With the changes to the laws and introduction of computer programs, Cricket Scoring has definitely moved into the 21^st Century.  It is becoming more and more vital to have properly trained, competent Scorers on the boundary to assist the Umpires in providing an accurate record of the match.

Jersey Association of Cricket Umpires & Scorers and the ACU&S joined forces in April to provide an Introductory Cricket Scoring course for new and experienced scorers alike, and even with well over a century of ‘keeping the book’ behind us everybody learnt something new over the weekend.  Although there were only 4 people attending the course it was still very worthwhile, and gives us something to build on.

We were very fortunate to have the expertise of Cathy and Chris Rawson over from ACU&S for a weekend to provide some long overdue Scorers’ training, and to provide instructor training so that JACUS can run its own in-house courses in the future.  It has been a number of years since all Premier League teams could boast to having their own Team Scorer, and that should be our primary aim; building to appointing Scorers for all Inter-Insular, JICC and Evening League matches, much as the Umpires section does now.

If you are interested in learning the art, it’s not all ‘square-eyes and statto’s’, and it’s not compulsory to produce a rainbow-coloured canvas at the end of 45 overs.  Post game ‘analysis’ and trying to avoid fines for ‘Excessive use of tippex’ from the post match fines committee are some of the more light-hearted aspects of the job.

JACUS hope to be able to provide more training sessions as and when required.  These will be limited to week-nights during the season, and hopefully another weekend after the close of the season.

Many thanks to the members of JACUS and Chris Minty for their help in organizing the course.