Cyprus decodes the myth of Scoring

Cyprus Cricket Association in collaboration with ICC Europe recently conducted an Introductory Scoring Award (ECB ACO Level 1) course at Heritage School in Limassol.

The one day course was delivered by ICC Regional Umpires Consultant Graham Cooper and covered recognition of Umpires' signals, methods of dismissal, basic principles of scorebook entry, official symbols to use, and end of over/match balances and checks.

Brain Welford, one of the participants share his experience ?Early on Saturday 7th April fifteen innocent people entered the dark, hallowed halls of Heritage School for the second scorers? course to be held in Cyprus. Fifteen good and true individuals varying from teenagers to a white-haired retiree & from players & spectators to a lady executive all met to be initiated into the mystical art.

All went quiet as the instructor rose to face his hesitant audience and Graham Cooper (ICC Europe Regional Umpires Consultant) gave us the stern eye of a cricket ?Official?. Throughout the day Graham led us through the various aspects by means of PowerPoint presentations, diagrams, and examples.

As the hours passed so we were taught the symbology, the different signs and hand signals and then to establish a routine for marking the sheets. As the mystery unfolded so we became aware of the overall complexity of the art form and, on occasions, some were confused to the point of longing for the simplicity of Algebra.

The final exam brought out some interesting results but we all came away with a new insight into scoring and a greater respect for those unseen scorers so essential at all cricket matches.?

Muhammad Husain, Chairman, Cyprus Cricket Association commented ?Cyprus Cricket Association is a non-profit sports association working towards the development of great sports of cricket in Cyprus. We believe in overall development of the sports and the scorer course is also part of our development program. The participants had plenty to digest in one day and they are now well-versed with the art of scoring. Cyprus Cricket will be helping the newly qualified scorers to further enhance their skills by providing them with the opportunity to score in domestic 40 and 20 over games.?