P-cricket Manual (HTML format)

A Palm™ handheld computer represents a perfect solution for scoring cricket matches. These wonderful devices are inexpensive, light and durable, fit in one's shirt pocket and have a battery life of weeks, if not months. Palm handheld computers come with abundant memory, sufficient to a store a large number of cricket matches, with enough memory left over for normal day-to-day diary and appointment functions. The Palm operating system (PalmOS) is "event-driven", i.e. the Palm handheld executes instructions by responding immediately to stylus taps and button presses initiated by the user.

If one thinks about it, cricket is also an "event-driven" sport, comprising many different events: the toss, the start of the match, a ball being bowled, a wide ball, a batsman being dismissed, the end of an over, a drinks break, a declaration, a change of bowling, etc. In fact, the PalmOS is so tailor-made for scoring cricket matches it almost seems that it was designed specially just for cricket!

Although a few cricket scoring programs have already emerged in the market, P-cricket is the first serious attempt to utilise the PalmOS capabilities to the full. It caters for all conventional cricket scoring requirements, from 5-day test matches and one-day internationals, to week-end club matches and junior cricket played on a Saturday morning.

So pack away those bulky, expensive, power-dependent lap-top computers and discard the old archaic paper score-sheets. Change to a Palm handheld with P-cricket and immediately start scoring cricket matches with ease, anywhere, anytime!

P-Cricket is a cricket scoring program which is packed with a rich selection of scoring functions and analyses capabilities:

No run time modules are required, and P-cricket will create its own score-sheet database (PcriDB.PDB). The P-cricket module provides complete scoring functionality, with the exception of infra-red printing. The following files are supplementary but not essential for correct operation:

P-cricket is launched from the Palm handheld's home screen by tapping on the Pcricket icon, shown circled below:

Every time P-cricket is started, the current score sheet is opened and re-built to the exact point where it was left previously. Although P-cricket has built-in archiving and restoring facilities, there is no need to be concerned about exiting and re-entering the application during a scoring session. No information will be lost, and there is no need for intermediate back-ups.

When P-cricket is launched by tapping on it's icon, the main scoring screen shown here is displayed. It looks very complicated, but one soon gets used to it. The various components are described below:

Match status: At the very top, the screen title displays the match status, in this case "Match in progress". Various messages indicating breaks in play, end of an innings, match completion, etc. will be displayed here to show the current status of the match. Buttons and events will behave differently, depending on the match status.

Batting team: Immediately below the title, the screen displays 4 lines of batting details for the team currently batting. The first line, in bold type, shows the team name (e.g. Australia) and total score (0 wickets for 134 runs). The next two lines show the the batting order, names and scores of the two batsmen currently at the crease (Justin Langer on 56 and Matthew Hayden on 70). The batsman on strike (Hayden) is indicated by a tick in the block to the left of the batsman. The last line of batting detail gives a breakdown of total wides (1), no-balls (4), byes (1) and leg-byes (2), with the total extras (8) shown on the very right.

Changing the strike: The batsman on strike can be changed by tapping anywhere inside the batsman's name or tick-box. Pay careful attention to which batsman is on strike. Normally, the strike would change intelligently, except in the case of no-balls, wides and dismissals, where the scorer may need to override the setting by tapping on the correct batsman's name.

Completed overs: The next line shows the total overs completed (32.6), the run rate per over (4.06), penalty runs awarded to the fielding side (pf) and penalty runs (pb) awarded to the batting side.

Bowling detail: The middle part of the screen shows bowling statistics for the team currently bowling. The team name (e.g. South Africa) is displayed in bold type-face. Batting scores for all innings completed previously by this team are also shown on the same line (10/277). The next line shows the number, name and bowling analysis for the current bowler (5. Claud Henderson 2.6 overs 0 wickets for 11 runs). The next line shows the current over in progress. To the left of the equal sign the ball-by-ball breakdown for the over is shown (1.L1.n1.w1.b1.o.4.o). The total runs conceded by the bowler (7) is displayed between the equal sign and the plus sign, whereas other runs not credited to the bowler, i.e. byes and leg-byes, (2 in total) are displayed to the right of the plus sign.

Buttons: The 29 buttons at the bottom of the screen can be divided into 4 main groups: scoring buttons, shift buttons, edit buttons and miscellaneous buttons, as described below:

Scoring buttons: The numbered buttons shown left are the active scoring buttons. One tap on any of these buttons will immediately credit the runs to the batsman currently on strike, shown by a tick next to the batsman's name. See scoring normal runs for more detail. The left arrow, also referred to as the back-space or undo button, shown at the bottom left of the main screen, allows one to delete the last event recorded. It deletes all traces of the event, so normally one would use this to correct mistakes immediately after tapping the wrong button. There is no re-do facility, any events thus erased can be re-instated by normal scoring. All events in the ball-by-ball database can be erased backwards, right up to the start of the match, if desired (see also correcting errors). The Over button is used to indicate the end of a normal over, whereas the Bowler button allows one to make a mid-over bowling change and to correct a wrong bowler selected at the start of the over, without having to re-score the over. Breaks in play can be started and completed at any time by tapping on the Stop button. During stoppages, the label of this button changes to Start. This button is also used to complete an innings and start a new one. One can score up to 4 innings in a match. There is no restriction on number of overs (within reason, i.e. it can handle all 4 innings of a test match comfortably). Equally, P-cricket does not restrict which team bats in which innings, as it will comfortably allow the same team to bat in successive or all innings, or any combination of team and innings.

Shift Buttons: These buttons all operate as shift keys: on their own they do nothing, except to supply a different context to the scoring buttons. When any of these buttons are "on", they will be highlighted. Tapping one of the run buttons will then trigger the highlighted event, eg with the w button highlighted, a tap on the 1 button will record one wide. Similarly, when the Out button is on, a tap on any run button (dot, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or >6) will trigger a dismissal event and the Out window will pop-up. The Out button can be on simultaneously with any of the extras buttons, in order to trigger dismissals with extras, whereas only one extras button can be on at a time. If the shift button was tapped by mistake, simply tap it again to remove the shift effect. Refer to the sections on extras and dismissals for more detailed descriptions of these functions.

Edit buttons: The Match, Team1 and Team2 buttons are normally used at the start of the match to edit the match and player details. They may also be used at any time during the match, to correct player names etc (see step 4 under the section starting a new match). The Edit button allows one to correct minor scoring mistakes anywhere in the match (see ball-by-ball editing).

Miscellaneous buttons: The buttons on the right of the scoring block are used for various queries, analyses and non-scoring activities. At the top, are two Help buttons. The Bat button displays battings summaries for any innings, whereas the Bowl button provides bowling statistics. A number of additional utilities are accessed by tapping on the Utils button. These include printing, registration, archiving, cumulative graphs, Manhattan skylines and target settings.

Registration must take place before starting a new match, i.e. only when the status = Match not started. This is achieved by tapping the Util button, followed by Register button. The Palm User Name will be displayed. Enter the registration code that was e-mailed after purchase and tap the Register button. Once registered, scoring buttons will remain active, as opposed to disappearing progressively in the unregistered version. See utilities for more details.

Directly after installation, the current score-sheet is initialised and stored in the default P-cricket database, (PCriDB.PDB). At this stage, the match status will be displayed as Match not Started. Here one can skip steps 1 to 3 and proceed directly with step 4 below.

Once a match has been completed, the current match must be reset, using the following steps 1 to 4:

Step 1: Complete the current match. Tap the Stop button on the main screen, and then tick the Completed box in the Stop Play window, followed by Done. This will change the match status indicator, top of the main screen to Match Completed as shown.

Step 2: Optionally save the match. Tap Utils button, followed by the Copy button on the Utilities window, enter a name for the archived match and tap Copy. After completion of the copy to archive, tap the Done button to return to the main screen.

Step 3: Tap on the Start button to reset the match status to Match not started. Since the current match will now be erased completely, the program will ask one twice to confirm this action, as shown. Tap the Restart button on the two successive confirmation screens. The current match will be erased, and the match status will be set to Match not started.

Step 4: Complete the forms on the match details and player names by tapping on the Match, Team 1 and Team 2 buttons in succession. These windows appear as shown below. Changes should be made as described under Notes on Match and Team Details. Up to 15 player names can be entered per team. Use the Next buttons to switch to players 12 to 15.

The match status will still display Match not started. Tap on the Start button, confirm the restart and start scoring.

The Clear and Fill buttons on the team sheets above allow one to delete all names in the player sheets, and to fill the roster with dummy player names. These buttons only appear when the match has not yet been started, so that names are not erased by accident during the course of a match.

Match and team details as shown under step 4 above can be entered as per the normal Grafitti or keyboard convention for field entries. Double and triple taps, pen dragging, cut and paste etc. are also possible. For cutting and pasting, use the correct diagonal stroke on the Grafitti area to access the cut/paste icons. The match details and player names are retained throughout, even when starting a new match. Additional buttons on these screens allow one to clear all details, and/or to fill blank details with dummy information (useful when opposing team players are unknown and the match starts in a hurry). The scorer can then fill in the correct details during play, as the details become available.

Note that the team batting first must be indicated on the match detail screen before the start of the match (Match status = Match not started). Once the match is in progress, neither the team batting first nor the no-ball rules may be changed, since this would invalidate any scoring events already recorded. If one makes a mistake in selecting either or both of these options and the match has already been started, then one would need to reverse the start of the match by using the backspace button. Restart the match again after correcting the match settings. Other match details and player names can be changed at any time, bearing in mind that the batting and bowling orders selected during the course of the match cannot be changed, except by using the backspace (see the note below regarding player order ).

Currently, P-cricket does not allow for storage and retrieval of separate team lists or rosters, but this, in effect, can be achieved by restoring any archived match and then clearing only the details that have changed. Also, P-cricket never loses the current match details or player names unless the scorer deliberately clears these details. Thus, if one is using P-cricket to score a full ODI series (e.g. Australia vs. South Africa), where many matches between the same two teams are played in succession, it becomes a simple matter to retain most of the same information, making only minor changes between each match.

Player Order: The order of team names is important in that they track the order selected when batting or bowling. Once names have been entered, and the match is in progress, the name order should remain unchanged. Batsman number 1 may be linked to the 5th name, whereas the same player may bowl later as the 3rd bowler. Thus if one changes name number 5, this will be reflected in the batting results at Batsman 1, but also at Bowler 3, i.e. the actual order "points" to the correct names in the list. One can of course start off with blank names, and fill them in as the match proceeds. The trick is to allocate player names in logical batting or bowling orders, i.e. always select the batsmen from player 1 downwards and bowlers from player 11 upwards, even if the names are wrong or blank at first. One gets used to it soon enough. Even with pre-entered names, one can still "cut" and "paste" player names and do some shuffling during the first innings of the match. Avoid using player names 12 to 15, unless there are actually more than 11 players in the match (a common occurrence with very young teams).

P-cricket is also quite lenient with regard to shuffling the batting order in any completed or current innings. What often happens in club matches is that the team captain specifies a batting order to the scorer at the start, but then changes the order during the game. Invariably, the scorer is not informed until much later. The "shuffle" option allows one to replace any player in any batting position, with another player. P-cricket automatically corrects all related scores whenevr this function is activated.

On the main screen, the striker is "ticked". If for any reason this is incorrect, e.g. after a dismissal), then just tap the correct batsman. Generally, the strike changes intelligently, but one needs to keep one eye on the tick at all times, batsmen get quite upset when one records their boundaries to another player. Note that after dismissals, the program assumes that the new batsman will take strike, but will still pose the question "Change strike to not-out batsman?" to allow the scorer to override this assumption.

Similarly, when the batsmen physically run another run on a wide or no-ball, the strike will change automatically on even runs, on the assumption that one extra is the default and that a score of say 2 wides implies that the batsmen crossed once only. Some league bye-laws require double the extras, i.e. an ordinary wide or no-ball scores 2 runs, but this is the exception rather than the rule. After such multiple wides or no-balls, the program will pop up a reminder as to what happened to the strike. If incorrect, the strike must be changed manually, using a single tap on the correct batsman.

A scoring event is recorded by a single tap on any of the numbers (shown circled) in the scoring block located at the bottom left hand corner. The buttons labelled with dot, 1 to 6 and >6 are scoring triggers, i.e. when tapped, they immediately record the score to the batsman on strike, the bowler, the batting team's total runs, the number of balls etc. They also record a scoring event in the ball-by-ball database. The dot button records a valid ball bowled, without any runs being scored.

Note that the numbered scoring buttons 1 to 6 and >6 also act in conjunction with eight "shift" buttons. These are labelled w, n, b, L and n+ for normal extras, pb and pf for penalty runs awarded to the batting and fielding sides, and Out for dismissals. The shift buttons can be toggled on or off with successive taps. When "on", they are shown highlighted, i.e. with colours reversed. To activate the shift events, one of the scoring buttons, i.e. dot, 1 to 6 and >6, must be tapped while a shift button is highlighted (see also the sections on extras, dismissals and shift buttons ).

After every scoring event, a suitable confirmation screen pops up for one second. These screens depict Crico, our P-cricket character, in various action poses. A few samples are shown below:

Whilst we had fun conceiving Crico and doing the artwork, the main reason for these pop-ups is to indicate to the scorer that the event was recorded successfully. They also provide a slight pause during which scoring buttons are disabled. This prevents multiple button taps being recorded by mistake (due to the quick program response).

The Crico character makes his appearance with somewhat of a fanfare to award a batting accolade whenever a batsman, the current partnership or the total score reaches a milestone in multiples of 50 runs, i.e. at 50, 100, 150 ... etc.

The fanfare sound volume is linked to the game sound volume control accessed via the PalmOs Prefs button and can be set to any of the four options: off, low, medium and high. The high setting is recommended for scoring a match while umpiring, whereas the off to medium settings are more appropriate when scoring outside the field of play.

Errors can be corrected immediately using the left arrow (shown circled at the bottom left of the scoring block). This button is also referred to as the "back-space" or "undo" button. It will always reverse the last recorded event, except at the very start of a match. Since all events are stored in the ball-by-ball database, the back-space button can successively reverse every single event, including runs or extras, dismissals, breaks in play, start or end of an innings, or the match completion. In fact, if desired, an entire test match can be "undone" by tapping the back-space button about 2700 times! Such self-inflicted torture would never be necessary, however, since other features allow one to archive the current match and start a new match, at any time, using the same or different players.

Generally, the back-space button should be used for correcting errors directly after the event. Since there is no "redo" facility to reinstate an event that has just been deleted, the correct event must be recorded using the normal scoring procedure. To correct an error that occurred, say 3 balls ago, would require three taps to reverse the last three balls, then three correct scoring events. In such cases, it would be more efficient to use the ball-by-ball edit facility, to correct only the specific error.

Scoring buttons with extras buttons circled

The Extras buttons (shown circled) act as shift buttons, i.e. on their own they do nothing. A single tap on any of these buttons will highlight the button, but the extras are only recorded after tapping one of the run buttons, with one of the extras buttons highlighted.

The extras buttons, clockwise from top left on the scoring block, are defined as follows:

Button	Type of extras
w	Wides
n	No-balls
b	Byes
L	Leg-byes
pf	Penalty awarded to fielding side
pb	Penalty awarded to batting side
n+	No-ball plus runs off the bat

For the latter case, the number of no-balls added to extras as specified under "Match", "No-Ball rules", the default of 1 is the norm.

Penalty extras awarded to the fielding side are recorded automatically in the previous or next innings, as per the recommendations in Law 42.17 (d), MCC Laws of Cricket, 2000. These will be handled correctly for normal innings sequences, and also when a team follows-on. Fielding penalties are not recorded in the previous or next innings in very rare cases where the same team bats twice in succession, (other than for the standard follow-on). This could only happen if a team forfeits an innings, Law 14.2, or during special coaching matches. In such cases, the penalty runs awarded to the fielding side must be entered manually during the fielding team's next batting innings.

Note the difference between the no-ball and no-ball plus buttons. Runs tapped with the "n" button highlighted are all scored as no-balls (example: batsman take a run on a no-ball, without the ball touching the bat: tap "n" then "2" to record 2 no-balls). Runs tapped with the "nb+" button highlighted are scored to the batsman on strike, and 1 no-ball is recorded to extras (example: batsman hits a no-ball for 4: tap "n+" button followed by the "4" button, this will score 4 runs to the batsman, and 1 run to no-ball extras).

Examples:

	To score one wide:tap the w button, then button 1, as shown.
	Extra runs on dismissals (eg a stumping on a wide) are recorded by first highlighting the two shift buttons (tapping on buttons w and Out in any order) and then triggering the event by tapping button 1, as illustrated.
	Runs to the batsman off a no-ball are recorded by first tapping the n+ button and then triggering the event by tapping the number of runs scored, i.e. two runs. The no-ball is recorded to no-ball extras, and the batsman is credited with the 2 runs, as shown.

A question frequently asked is: "How does P-cricket score byes on a wide or no-ball?"

The answer of course is that byes cannot be scored off a wide or a no-ball. In terms of the MCC Laws of Cricket 2000, Law 25.6 (Runs resulting from a Wide - how scored) states: "All runs completed by the batsmen or a boundary allowance, together with the penalty for the wide, shall be scored as Wide balls". This also holds for no-balls (law 24.13).

The umpire should indicate such cases correctly, for example if a wide is missed by everybody, and it goes over the boundary behind the wicket, the correct score is 5 wides: 1 for the penalty + 4 for the boundary. Also, when the batsmen run one run on a wide ball, the correct score is 1+1 = 2 wides (and a change of striker). With P-cricket, one would tap "w" then "5" for the first example, and "w" then "2" for the second example. In cases where no additional runs are scored, one would tap "n" then "1" or "w" then "1", for no balls or wides, respectively.

Crico the palmpire indicates a wide ball

Remember: All the extras buttons operate as shift keys: on their own they do nothing, except to supply a different context to the scoring buttons. One of the run buttons must be tapped last in the sequence to trigger the scoring of the extras. If an extras button was tapped by mistake, simply tap it again to remove the shift effect.

Wickets are recorded by tapping the Out button, then a scoring button (dot, 1-6 or >6). Mostly, the dot button will be used to trigger a dismissal where no runs were scored off the dismissal ball. In other cases, simultaneous events can be recorded, eg, stumping off a wide ball: tap Out, then w, then 1.

	In this example, first tap the Out button, then the dot button, to record a straight-forward dismissal without any runs.
	This example illustrates a typical case of two leg-byes being scored, with a run-out occurring on the third run. Here, the tap sequence is Out, L, 2. The event that triggers the dismissal is always one of the run buttons, tapped last in the sequence.

After triggering the dismissal with a run button, the Out window will be displayed, as shown below. First tap on any of the allowed methods of dismissal. Secondly, for score-sheet print-outs, it is important to record the correct fielder. This is done by tapping on the down arrow button to the left of the word Unknown (shown in red), which will "pop" up a list of fielders from which to select the correct player. In cases where either batsman can be given out, just tap on the correct player under the Who was out section. Once all the dismissal details are correct, tap the Done button.

The Out Window, where the method of dismissal, fielder involved (if any) and the batsman dismissed can be selected. For most types of dismissals, the batsman dismissed will be the striker, and the program will not allow a change.

After each dismissal, one has the option of selecting the next batsman, or recording a break in play, as shown.

The next batsman is selected from the list of player names by highlighting the player name (shown left) and tapping the Done button. If the dismissal was followed by a break in play, tap the Break instead, to bring up the Break Window (shown right).

Batsman who are dismissed as "retired" or "retired injured" receive special consideration in that such dismissals are not treated as real wickets, but pseudo wickets. Such batsmen can bat again, with balls faced and runs carried over from the previous position. Batting summaries, fall of wickets and partnership displays cater for the difference between pseudo and real wickets, since the returning batsman will establish new partnerships with other batting partners (or even with the original batting partner).

P-Cricket also places no restriction on batsman batting again in the same innings after being dismissed normally, since such events occur often in junior cricket teams comprising younger players. The batsman is treated as a new player, in such cases. The only restriction is the limit of 15 batting positions.

Strictly speaking, a retirement without injury constitutes a real dismissal, and under MCC laws, such a batsman cannot return. P-Cricket is a bit more lenient in allowing dismissed batsmen to bat more than once in the same innings, as it happens often in practice. Rigid enforcement of such rules can be applied easily by the umpires, it falls outside the control of the scorer.

Dismissal errors can be corrected only by using the back-space button, hence extra care is necessary when indicating the batsman dismissed, the method of dismissal, the fielder involved, if any, and the selection of the next batsman. These details cannot be changed later using the ball-by-ball edit. The back-space button is very effective in reversing a dismissal completely, so it's very easy to apply, provided one discovers the error in time.

Remember: The "Out" button operates as a shift key: on its own it does nothing, except to supply a different context to the scoring buttons. One of the run buttons must be tapped last in the sequence to trigger the dismissal. If the "Out" was tapped by mistake, simply tap it again to remove the shift effect.

After 6 or more valid balls have been bowled in an over, P-cricket will give a warning sound, but won't restrict the number of balls. The scorer must indicate the end of over by tapping the Over button. Then one can select a new bowler, or record a break in play.

The end of the over is triggered by tapping on the Over button (shown circled).

After triggering the end of the over, one has the option of selecting the next bowler, or recording a break in play, as shown. Normally, the bowler who bowled the over before the over just completed will be shown highlighted. If there's a change in bowling, tap on the correct player name.

The next bowler is selected from the list of player names by highlighting the player name (shown left) and tapping the Done button. If the end of the over was followed by a break in play, tap the Break instead, to bring up the Break Window (shown right).

P-cricket does not restrict the number of balls per over. The over can be completed after one ball or several, and this is under full control of the scorer. Most cricket matches abide by Law 22.1, which specifically defines an over as consisting of 6 balls. P-cricket provides only a gentle reminder (a quick series of sounds) after 6 or more balls have been counted. This allows flexibility with regard to umpires miscounting, junior matches where a maximum of 3 wides are allowed, or special club rules which use 8 balls per over, say.

The only restriction is that the current over's ball-by-ball breakdown must not exceed 100 characters. This field appears on the main scoring screen just above the scoring block, and scrolls to the left as more events are added. For example, in the screen at the start of this page, the ball-by-ball breakdown is shown as 4.o.1.1.1.1. (12 characters all told, including the periods).

A series of quick musical notes are sounded after every event from valid ball 6 onwards. The sound volume is linked to the game sound volume control accessed via the PalmOs Prefs button and can be set to any of the four options: off, low, medium and high. The high setting is recommended for scoring a match while umpiring, whereas the off to medium settings are more appropriate when scoring outside the field of play.

Tap the Bowler button followed by the [Mid-over bowling change (injury)]option to change a bowler who cannot complete an over, as shown in the sequence below. This allows partial overs per bowler.

A mid-over bowling change should only be used when Law 22.8 (Bowler incapacitated or suspended during an over) applies. Note that the bowler selection screen does not allow a break to be indicated. If there was a substantial time loss due to injury or umpires conferring, use the Stop button to record the break before applying a mid-over bowling change.

Don't use the Bowler button for normal bowling changes at the end of overs, but the Over button (see ending an over).

Tap the Bowler button followed by the [Correct player selection error] option to change a bowler during the current over, as shown in the sequence below.

When a different player is selected, all the runs, extras, wickets, etc. which were allocated to the wrong bowler during the current over will be reversed automatically and credited to the correct player.

Don't use the Bowler button for normal bowling changes at the end of overs, but the Over button (see ending an over).

The Stop/Start button handles all activities related to starting new matches, breaks in play, ending an innings and completing a match. The sequence below illustrates a typical drinks break.

During the drinks break, the button label changes to Play. Tap the button once to resume the game.

A new match can be started at any time during a current match by tapping the Stop button and recording the break as Match completed. The match status will then change accordingly and the Stop/Start button will read Start. Refer to starting a new match for more details.

Normal breaks in play are handled by tapping Stop and selecting the correct break from the Stop Play screen. The main screen displays the break, scoring buttons are disabled, and the Stop/Start buttons displays Play. Tap Play to resume scoring after the break. Breaks in play can also be selected directly after an over has been completed or after a dismissal. This follows the same process as above, except that when scoring resumes after completion of the break, the next bowler or batsman must first be selected from the player list. Breaks between innings should be indicated on the Stop Play screen by tapping the appropriate end of innings break. Generally, if the end of the innings or match was reached simultaneously with the end of the over (as in the case of limited overs matches), then the end of over need not be indicated first, as the the bowler statistics will fix up the partial overs with 6 or more balls bowled.

When play resumes after the end of innings, options are presented which allow for different possibilities (next team bats, follow on etc). Although 4 separate innings are allowed, P-cricket will not restrict which team bats next, so that it is possible for the same team to bat 4 times, or the first team to bat again immediately, or any other combination within the 4 allowed innings. This provides some flexibility, particularly for coaching purposes, or when the batting positions exceed 15. Coaches can come up with innovative training matches played over a number of days or even weeks, even when scoring other matches between training sessions. The archiving and restore facilities allow such innovations with ease.

The Edit Button allows full access to every event during the entire match. This means that one can use the Ball-by-ball edit to correct mistakes much later, e.g. a disputed 4 which was actually a 6, 5 overs ago. In the following example in the 50th over, ball 49.6 is changed from a single by batsman 7 to 3 runs by batsman 3.

The ball-by-ball edit allows one to scroll backwards and forwards by ball, over, or innings.

The navigation section of the ball-by-ball edit screen consists of the top row of buttons, which moves the focus of the current ball as follows in button order from left to right: start of innings, previous over, previous event, next event, next over, end of innings.

The ruler section allows on to position the current focus in larger jumps. Just tap anywhere inside the ruler to move the focus to say half way, quarter way etc. To the left and right of the ruler are arrow buttons which allow one to move the focus to previous or next innings, either or both of these will only appear if there are previous or next innings recorded. Normally, by tapping inside the ruler and using the next over/previous over buttons (the double arrows in the row of buttons), it should take only about 3 to 4 taps to locate the right over. Then tap on the next ball/previous ball (the single arrows in the row of buttons) to position the focus on the right event, as shown top left of the screen.

Changes to the current ball are made by tapping the required buttons, and/or striker. For example, if the run was scored to the wrong batsman, just tick the correct batsman. Once a change has been made, the Upd (update) button will appear. The change is only effected after tapping the update button.

Ball-by-ball edits are very effective in correcting minor scoring mistakes. In contrast, the left arrow button effects a backspace deletion, which loses the previous ball. Hence if one goes too far back, one must re-instate the in-between balls. This is quite difficult when many things happen.

The Ball-by-ball edit is limited to correcting the number of runs, extras and change in striker. It does not correct mistakes related to a wicket falling, (e.g. wrong batsman dismissed), as this becomes quite complicated within the context of ball-by-ball records. So extra care is necessary during dismissals. One can still correct dismissal mistakes using the left arrow, however (i.e. just manually redo the dismissal, directly after the event), as explained under correcting scoring errors and dismissals above.

The Help button covers 18 help topics, with each topic providing abbreviated information, useful when one is at the match, far away from a desktop. Tap on the Help button, followed by the topic button as shown below:

The ? button is a "context sensitive" shift key, i.e. when highlighted, it can be used to access additional help screens directly related to each scoring button. This works by tapping the ? button, followed by a tap on the scoring button of interest.

Again, the information is somewhat abbreviated, but there's enough to resolve most queries that arise while scoring in the field.

The Bat button is used to display batting summaries at any stage, for all completed innings. This is quite useful when players want to know what their figures during or after the match, or when scorers need to reconcile score sheets.

To see a detailed ball-by-ball analysis of the player's batting performance as shown below, tap on any player's name.

Fall-of-wicket and batting partnership statistics can also be viewed by tapping the FoW or Part buttons on the batting summary screen.

In the case of batsmen batting again, having retired or been dismissed earlier, the returning batsman will occupy another batting position. Since the database is limited to 15 players and 15 batting and bowling positions, this becomes a constraint when the combination of total players and returning batsmen exceed 15 (again only applicable to junior cricket).

The Shuf button is used to correct a batsman selection error in any innings, at any time after the error. This allows an incorrect batting order to be "shuffled" by selecting the correct player to replace an incorrect player at any completed or current batting positiong. This requires only four quick steps. First tap the Shuf button, then tap on the incorrect batsman, next select the correct batsman and finally, tap the Done button.

All runs, balls faced and event timing are credited to the correct player. The incorrect player is placed back in the "hut", with status set to "did not bat".

The Bowl button is used to display the bowling summaries at any stage, for all completed innings. To see a detailed ball-by-ball analysis by over, tap on any players name on the summary screen shown below in the middle. This will bring up a screen similar to the one shown below on the right, where the over number, individual balls, analysis by over and running analysis are displayed on each line.

On the summary screen, the left and right arrow buttons allow one to scroll to the previous or next innings. The up and down arrows scroll the screen up or down by four players, so that one can view statistics for all 15 positions (normally only applicable in junior cricket matches involving very young players, 9 and 10 year olds). On the detailed ball-by-ball screen on the right, up and/or down arrows will appear when there are more than 10 overs. This allows one to scroll through all possible overs bowled by the specified bowler.

The Detail button above is used to display the bowling analysis for the entire innings, for each over in sequence. As for the analysis by bowler, scroll buttons allow one to view any batch of approximately ten overs. The Top and Bottom buttons allow one to move to the first and and last over in the innings.

The Utils button brings up the Utilities screen that offers a number of facilities. Currently, the active buttons are Print, Targets, Register, Cumul, Manhat, archive Copy, Restore and Delete, as shown:

The Print button will print the full score sheet directly to a printer via the infra-red interface. It requires the Stevens Creek Software print server to activate the infra-red protocols (see notes at the start of this manual).

The Targets, Cumul and Manhat buttons will display screens similar to the samples below:

The dots on the graphic screens indicate fall of wickets. Prev and Next buttons allow one to view other innings in the match, if any. Left and right arrows scroll the graphic screens horizontally, so that one can view the graphs over the entire range of overs. Due to pixel limitations, only 50 overs fit on the screen.

The Registration button is visible only at the start of a match, and is used to enter the registration code, e-mailed after purchase.

Type in the registration code and tap on the Register button to activate the registration.

Copy, Restore and Delete buttons allow one to manage match archives, by copying to or from the current match, or deleting older archives no longer required, as per the following screens:

When copying to archive, the name must be unique, otherwise the copy will be rejected. When restoring from or deleting a specific archive, the archives on file will be displayed. Tap on the archive name, followed by the Restore or Delete buttons to execute the command.

The full current match is always stored automatically throughout, which means there is no need for constant "back-ups". One loses nothing when accessing other applications on one's handheld. For example, it's useful to record memos during the course of the match. The odd back-up during a match can be done at any time, but it's not critical.

When using the Palm Hotsync utility, the current and all archived matches are transferred into the \Palm\Username\Backup directory, from where they must be transferred manually using the Windows Explorer (R) to a folder where they will not be affected by subsequent Hotsync procedures. These match files can be viewed or printed using the P-cricket Viewer (available as a separate download). This is explained in more detail in the readme.txt file in the viewer download.

Although these guidelines are fairly extensive, in reality scoring is much easier than it may appear from reading these notes, and the best way to learn is to score a real match. No doubt there are many more questions, a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list is available on the P-cricket web-site.

P-Cricket User Manual

HTML format for version 1.23

October 2002

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