CHERRY PICKING

Last Wednesday's debate at the Lincs League winter meeting about whether the county's 50-team competition should move over to online scorecards and registrations prompted much discussion on the night - and since. Here's the first for public consumption - courtesy of one of those club reps who attended on the night and then gave the matter even more thought afterwards. Just to remind you, Haxey's Mark Atkins put the case at the meeting for a move into the digital age, while possible pitfalls were laid out by league statistician Andy Sharp (Keelby CC).

By Matt Dobson, Cherry Willingham CC

The key to all of this is making sure the system is fit for purpose and before doing that we (the league) need to make sure we know and agree exactly what purpose the system is being used for!
Is it a registration system?
Is it a system to record online results?
Is it both?
I have my reservations whether it meets the registration requirements which are currently in place. All an administrator has to do to register a player for their club on Play Cricket is select ‘new’, type forename and surname and that’s it – the player themselves hasn’t necessarily physically signed up to anything (the code of conduct etc).
My recommendation would be for nothing to be completed online prior to the game (our 1st team is not always known until Friday teatime let alone the 2nd XI) and for the home side to submit all details (including player’s from both sides) within a given deadline once the game has been completed (in the same way that the home side was responsible for completing the entire paper form – including both teams).
I can think of clubs whom I am sure would not necessarily want an opposition to know their side in advance – this to me is a complete non-runner! For me, player registration should remain as is. The term 'registration' is being banded about but I’m wondering whether there are some crossed wires – when Mark (Atkins) spoke about registration I belive he was talking about registering a player with Play Cricket (as a user / available to pick on scoresheets) not physically registering a player with the league!
As for recording of results – I’m all for it – play cricket is fairly easy to use and the benefits are substantial. The Lincoln League has been very fortunate in the past three years as one man enters all the results onto Play Cricket – he does this following receipt of all scoresheets from the clubs (effectively the job is being done twice). This way though, the League are still in control! I know the Lincs League does not currently have someone with the time or inclination to do this but perhaps somebody at a club would be willing to? Even if this is not possible then individual clubs should really be asked to enter their results online.
The nature of my work and the clients we provide services for revolves entirely around data coming into the office – the key is the quality of the data. Obviously electronic data is greener and things should happen quicker! However, we as a company have had some problems implementing electronic systems – there will always be resistance. When I speak to someone in IT they believe that not being able to use a computer is, in historical terms, now on a par with not being able to read. I don’t necessarily subscribe to this as there are still many folk (usually within the older generation) or are not familiar with computers, have had no exposure to the internet and therefore will understandably be much more resistant! Will the Lincs League offer a paper alternative if a club cannot find someone to record results online?
I’m not an IT techie but have worked on projects where e-forms have been developed and rolled out. I wonder whether a demonstration to the full Lincs League meeting may have been a better option (these have always been popular when we have run them). I’m not sure if the room at Rasen has an internet connection/wireless but if so then I’m sure it would be possible to project onto the wall or something like that. If this option was investigated – would recommend those involved tested the It side before the night (speaking from experience!).
Teams should be responsible for ensuring players are ‘registered’ on the website so when it comes to entering the scores the home side can find the starting X1 for both. The home side then continues with the scoresheet and fills all the details in.
Have to say all of this is based on the version of Play Cricket that I am aware of, not necessarily the new improved system which Mark made reference to.

We should make it clear these are Matt's personal observations which may, or may not, reflect those of Cherry Willingham CC.

Feel free to join the debate. Email/post your views, if you wish, to add to this discussion.