Using Play-Cricket Scorer Pro
Earlier this year I was invited to help with user acceptance testing of Play-Cricket Scorer Pro( PCSP). I was sceptical at first because of the rapid product development; however, the level of effort from the developers and the ECB has been admirable, culminating in a successful product launch this year and a very positive take-up by many scorers, both recreational and professional.
On loading PCSP, you are presented with a slightly scary, almost blank screen, but once you either create a match or download a fixture, things start to look more familiar. An excellent feature is that PCSP uses a centralised server concept for data, including clubs, teams, players, venues, officials, match types, competitions, fixtures and actual match data. This means that although you have a local database, it’ s not critical since all data can be retrieved from the server.
Beginning a match is a logical process of going through the play states of‘ pre-toss’,‘ pre-start’ and then‘ in play’. You are then presented with the scoring controls – a panel of coloured buttons allowing you to score most combinations of scoring shot, extras and wickets with a single mouse click or keyboard press. You can also record additional data such as wagon wheels, type of shot and fielder’ s name.
As the match progresses, various programme windows show match summary( including Duckworth Lewis Stern), ball-by-ball data, innings notes, scoreboard and scorecard information.
Ball-by-ball editing is very well handled, allowing you to select any ball in the innings and then edit the information using the same scoring controls.
A built-in auto correct feature then gives you the option of making multiple automated changes, for example, if you’ ve swapped two batsmen.
PCSP integrates directly with Play-Cricket, allowing fixture information to be downloaded prior to the game. It also then allows live score updates to Play-Cricket as the match progresses and upload of the result on match completion. Twitter integration means automatic tweets can be selected for various milestone events. These work well and I find them a useful way of keeping supporters updated and for also providing a link to the Play-Cricket live scorecard.
I have successfully tested scoreboard integration with an FSL-type controller. If you already have an interface cable, PCSP can directly control your FSL-type scoreboard, you just need to initially configure the correct data parameters within PCSP. The default scoreboard commands are suitable for most scoreboard layouts, but again, these are easily configurable.
As with any new product, there have been teething problems. The Play-Cricket interface was problematic on the first day of our league season in early May, but things have steadily improved since then and I have successfully downloaded, live-scored and uploaded my league matches without too much heartache.
Support for PCSP has been excellent through the Play-Cricket help desk. I have received prompt assistance and there is a good selection of support documentation and FAQs that answer many of the common questions.
So what would I like to see next? Well, from a PCSP perspective, perhaps a linear scorebook view and better multi-match statistics tools for things like batting and bowling averages.
From a supporter’ s perspective, a better live score experience through Play- Cricket, so that things like wagon wheels and run rate / worm graphs are available both within the website and through the Play-Cricket live app.
In conclusion, I’ ve been very impressed with PCSP considering the short development time frame. The level of support has been excellent and I’ m glad I made the switch this season and hope for many more happy days of electronic scoring.
Andy Nott, Wiltshire
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