St Helena Cricket Association to reach new heights in player and fan experience!
On a weekend when most people in St Helena were enjoying the Easter activities, a small group of volunteers became involved in a small piece of history for the St Helena Cricket Association.
During the past year, the St Helena Cricket Association has been planning to replace the old scoreboard on Francis Plain which has been in existence for as long as many of today’s cricketers can remember and has recently evolved to using digital scoring as opposed to paper scoring, it was agreed to replace the scoreboard with a state of the art electronic smart scoreboard from one of the leading manufacturers ( Quickscore) in the UK. Over the months Quickscore worked closely with us to determine the correct requirements for St Helena and recruit MS Atlantic to help with the logistics and shipping the scoreboard to the Island, it arrived on the last call of the MV Helena.
Having previously sought approval from Prince Andrew School to replace the old board with the new one, work on building a cabinet in the smaller pavilion on Francis Plain began and was completed over the weekend. On Good Friday the Scoreboard was built (it is actually 9 individual panels) and tested as far as possible until we create a live situation.
So how does it all work? – Well…. We have moved to use the CricHeroes App for our scoring and this has now been integrated to work in conjunction with the scoreboard, so basically, when the score is entered into the CricHeroes App, it is transmitted via the internet to the CricHeroes platform and then you see it on your smart device if you are following us via the app, at the same time it is also transferred to our scoreboard back in Francis Plain… yes it is very simple.
What makes it work? – Firstly, each panel requires its own individual power supply, then data is sent from pieces of equipment (connected to the internet) to the scoreboard and the score is displayed.
We are pleased to announce SURE St Helena as our primary sponsor of a broadband package to enable the scoreboard function and for software updating purposes.
This being a Smart Scoreboard, means that it has many other functions apart from showing scores of cricket. With the purchase of a license, it can score any other sport. Connected to a computer it can display as an alternative screen or show live video or movies, the possibilities are endless.
Currently, the scoreboard is located in the smaller pavilion, however, this is a temporary arrangement for the remainder of this cricket season. The end plan is to relocate it to one side of Francis Plain in order that the players and fans can experience it equally. However, this will require additional approvals and planning permission which will be undertaken in the off-season.
So when will you see it in operation?… With all going well, the screen will be trialed during a live match next weekend, Saturday the 30th of April.
