Every fixture in the 2013 Cricket Ireland calender to be live scored 

CricHQ and Cricket Ireland are pleased to announce an extended and strengthened partnership that will see every ball of the 2013 Irish International season covered via the CricHQ software. The product will be used right across the Cricket Ireland fixture calendar in 2013 with all Ireland Men’s and Women’s matches as well as Ireland’s Under 19, Under 17 and Under 15 international home matches being live scored.

2013 looks set to be the most exciting home season ever for Irish cricket fans as the stand out international home fixtures versus Pakistan and England are complimented by the launch of the 2013 RSA Inter-Provincial Series at domestic level. Three sides, Leinster Lightning, Northern Knights and North West Warriors are set to play all three formats of cricket throughout a full summer of cricket. The official live scoring and management of the RSA Inter-Provincial Series will all take place via the CricHQ software with CricHQ’s Competition Management Solution being used to keep track of all the fixtures, results, points tables and player performances throughout the series to give a comprehensive level of coverage. All of this will appear on the official Cricket Ireland website at www.cricketireland.ie as well as via the app and website at www.crichq.com.

Fans and players are able to follow the game closer than ever before and enjoy a level of statistical information, live matches, online profiles and media content previously unavailable. By downloading the free app onto their iPhone or Android device or visiting www.cricketireland.ie anyone can follow every ball with graphics showing everything from where each ball pitches, to where it is hit and how many runs are scored, as it happens.

The CricHQ app has been developed in New Zealand and is backed by a number of high-profile investors including England off-spinner Graeme Swann and ex-New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming. In addition to Cricket Ireland, other governing bodies who are partnering with CricHQ include the International Cricket Council, New Zealand Cricket, Cricket Canada, and a number of First Class counties in England.

Ireland players Kevin O’Brien and Alex Cusack had some fun re-living their partnership against England at the 2011 Cricket World Cup as they ‘re-scored’ the match ball-by-ball on CricHQ yesterday. The pair famously put on 162 in just 15 overs as Kevin O’Brien scored the fastest century in World Cup history. Kevin spoke about CricHQ yesterday ’The CricHQ app is a great product which is really easy for anyone to use, I’ve had a good play around with it and it’s very user friendly on your IPhone or Tablet. I think it will be a great way to get more and more people interested in Cricket and also to get more and more kids playing and staying involved in the sport here in Ireland.’

Andrew Leonard, Marketing Manager from Cricket Ireland said: “We’re delighted that our partnership is being strengthened and with 2013 set to be arguably the most exciting home season in our history the timing couldn’t be any better. The CricHQ product is developing very quickly indeed and the new Competition Management Solution is a particularly strong development, not just for the RSA Inter-Provincial Series but for all our tournaments and series this summer.” He continued by saying how well the product integrates with the official Cricket Ireland website. “The software is not only easy to use for scorer’s, coaches and administrators but also integrates seamlessly into cricketireland.ie and it will be fascinating to watch the progress of our various teams and players throughout 2013.”

As well as helping people stay in touch with the latest scores the CricHQ product produces a high-level of data that can be invaluable to coaches and players. At the touch of a screen scorers and coaches can upload the score and at the same time produce everything from 3D wagon wheels to pitch maps and run charts which gives a huge amount of statistical data, it will be a fantastic tool for all coaches within the Irish international, domestic and youth international set-up.

Rob Lynch, CricHQ’S Europe manager said: “We are delighted to have strengthened our partnership with Cricket Ireland. Our aim is to work closely with the Irish cricket community to showcase the benefits of using our products and what is possible by adopting today’s technology. Irish cricket continues to perform exceptionally on the international stage and we hope that our partnership with Cricket Ireland will help to continue to not only spread the good word about the sport in Ireland and around the world but also to inspire the next generation of Kevin O’Briens and William Porterfields.”

Freya has recently returned from the UAE where she was competing in the U19 ARCH Trophy for Sussex. This annual tournament consists of the top U19 county sides in England playing each other, ending in a final to determine the winner.  Freya’s Sussex side went all the way to the final, but unfortunately fell at the final hurdle to the MCC side. The MCC side, made up of the majority of the current England U19 side were always favourites to win the tournament. However the final wasn’t all one way as Sussex restricted MCC to 150 for 6. In reply Sussex looked well and truly beaten at 106 for 8 before Freya came into bat at number 10. Finishing on 13 not out, Freya got Sussex to within striking distance but unfortunately ran out of partners at the other end – eventually being dismissed 18 runs short of the victory.

Before Freya took off to the tournament CricHQ managed to catch up with her to find out more about her budding cricketing career.

[CRICHQ] Why did you start playing cricket?

[FD] My dad and my brother played and I had to go along and watch, and playing was definitely more fun than watching.

[CRICHQ] How long have you played for and what has been your cricketing progression ?

[FD] My first hard ball match was when I was 10, but I had a bit of training in primary school from the age of about 8 or 9.

I grew up playing a lot of boys’ cricket at my club. From the age of 10 I was involved in the Sussex Women’s set up, and at the age of 14 I was selected for the ECB organised Junior Super 4s (52 best under 19s in the country). I was unfortunately injured the next year which set me back, but since coming back I have joined the England U19 training squad this winter, having performed well once I was back for a season.

[CRICHQ] Are you more of a batsman or bowler?

[FD] I’m a bowling all-rounder. I open the bowling, but I have worked hard on my batting and I would now say that I am a decent middle-order bat in senior cricket. I am working hard to get even better.

[CRICHQ] Best batting and Bowling figures?

[FD] Batting 101*

Bowling 5-9 off 4

[CRICHQ] Your most memorable moment in cricket?

[FD] A women’s match for my club, we were in the middle of the league and played the top of the league local club. They scored a massive total of 179 in their 20 overs. We had pretty much written off any chance of winning as our previous best score was around 120. My friend and I just decided to have some fun and batting practice while we were there. Much to the disappointment of their VERY competitive captain we scored the runs we needed with about an over to go. I scored my first ever century.

[CRICHQ] Who is your cricketing idol and why?

[FD] Sarah Taylor, she grew up playing boys’ cricket and was respected by the players irrespective of her gender. She works hard to be the best she can be, and she is really stretching what is possible for women in cricket. She also took the catch for my first wicket in women’s senior cricket – it just happened to be the England captain Charlotte Edwards.

[CRICHQ] What do you think of the CricHQ technology?

[FD] Its great for those who support us like my Mum and Dad who are able to follow games they can’t get to – such as the MCC ARCH Trophy in Dubai.

After extensive research, Web Team Manager David Robertson and his team have redesigned the site with the major focus of improving user experience.

When asked about the website alterations David said:

“The recent changes have aesthetically brought the website into alignment with the company’s branding. Our major goal for the facelift was on improving people’s ability to easily navigate around the site and to find what they are looking for. We also needed the site to accommodate the latest released features such as the Dream Team and CricHQ TV.“

The major weakness before the upgrade was the site wide search function. To combat this David has increased the number of filters in the data warehouse, allowing for improved index accuracy and retrieval.

Along with being able to get the correct players, clubs, teams, competitions and fixtures when performing a search, this enhanced indexing has increased the accuracy of the various leaderboards, which rely heavily on the data warehouse.

Furthermore, those utilising the CricHQ Administration Module have also benefited from the latest facelift. The most noticeable improvement is in the admin manage section which features a new user friendly navigation dashboard,  making it even easier for administrators to manage their weekly responsibilities. In addition to the dashboard, the ease of navigation for admins is further enhanced by the dropbox located in the top right hand corner of the site. This box now give admins the ability to access their different manage sections from anywhere on the website.

The upgraded site has also been designed to take full advantage of the ability to share information virally through various social platforms by integrating with Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter and Google during the registration process.

This social media integration gives CricHQ the ability to communicate directly with the above social properties to enhance the company’s reach through posting player milestones, and the ability for users to invite their social contacts to join CricHQ.

Also, once registered for CricHQ using one of the mentioned social properties, members can enjoy a one click login process.

Although the latest release of the CricHQ website has dramatically improved the usability of the site, David has cautioned that the website “is not a finished product, but rather a continual work in progress.”

This year all teams were out to beat the traditional favourites PNG, who had not been beaten at this tournament since before 2002. With the tournament winners gaining entry to the next stage of qualifying for the ICC T20 World Cup in 2014, there was plenty on the line over the five days of competition.

All the matches played in the tournament were scored live on CricHQ through the Competition Management system. The live scoring feature, which allows anyone in the world with an internet connection to follow the matches in real time was well received around the Pacific. This resulted in a large number of people visiting the website to keep up to date with their respective team’s progress.

 Kieran McMillian, ICC Regional Development Manager East Asia-Pacific gave glowing praise for the CricHQ technology saying “feedback from our members on the live scoring coverage has been extremely positive. Reports suggest people from Japan down to the Cook Islands were glued to the website in their homes and offices during the course of the week.”

In addition to CricHQ providing live scoring at the tournament, the match reports that are generated at the conclusion of any match scored on the CricHQ App were made available for the coaches to aid in the tactical and developmental aspects of coaching cricket.

Furthermore, CricHQ’s strong presence at the tournament has enabled the company to exhibit the numerous benefits of its technology platform a long with showing first hand how simple it is to implement. This has gone along way to break down the residual anxiety some regions and organisations have when thinking of making the leap to using the technology to manage and score their cricket competitions and leagues.

The signs are positive for CricHQ to increase its presence in this market with ICC East Asia Pacific Regional Project Officer Adam Cassidy, stating “many of our members are excited about how easy the scoring app is to use and have expressed interest in introducing it into their domestic cricket competitions.”

On the field, pre-tournament favourites PNG notched up another ICC EAP Men’s Championships title, comfortably defeating Vanuatu in the tournament final.

ACA CEO Paul Marsh is hoping that “with the full roll out of the CricHQ application in Australia it will enable the ACA to award an annual recreational cricketer of the year award alongside its annual professional Australian Cricketer MVP award.”

As we mentioned in the November newsletter, the MVP formula CricHQ uses in its abbreviated form is as follows:

Batting + Bowling + Fielding + Captaincy + Winning = Total MVP points

Using the above formula to calculate MVP points tells a more complete tale for any game of cricket. It is a cumulative points system that rewards players for every run scored, every wicket taken and every catch held.

When a match is scored on the CricHQ App each player will automatically be assigned MVP points for their performance. With the MVP formula standardising performances irrespective of match type or level it allows cricketers of any ability to compare themselves against the best.

To make this comparison even easier, visitors who browse on CricHQ.com from Australia are now presented with two Australian specific MVP leader boards on the homepage. This breaks down the best performing cricketers in Australian Cricket at both domestic and international level.

To give an indication of how many MVP points are scored for exceptional performances below are two examples by Australian Test Cricketers from the recent South African Series.

• Michael Clarke’s 259 against South Africa scored 40.48 MVP points

• Mitchell Starc’s eight-wicket haul against South Africa scored 34.72 MVP points

However, it is the introduction of the new feature housed on CricHQ.com that makes player comparison the easiest – The CricHQ Dream Team. This leader board consists of the best 11 weekly average MVP performances, irrespective of the level of competition. The only condition for players to be eligible for this side is that they are involved in a verified CricHQ competition. To replicate the makeup of an official side, the Dream Team is further broken down into the best batting, bowling and all rounders MVP performances. Check it out here

To keep up with this increasing demand for CricHQ technology across Asia, on February 1st CricHQ opened its first office in India. The international support and scoring centre was opened in Kochi, Kerala and now houses a team of 15 full time staff covering a range of services including customer support, scoring and statistical information collation. This key operation means we are able to support the clients we are signing in India and allows us to provide round the clock support for other countries using CricHQ.

In addition, the team of scorers now enable us to provide live scoring of all international fixtures from around the globe. We are expecting the Indian office to double in size within 3 months as demand for our products continues to grow.

Other exciting news in India is that we have signed our first major Indian cricket association. On the 5th of February Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) signed a 3 year deal which has made CricHQ become the preferred technology partner for this prestigious cricket association.

This partnership will see all cricket matches under the control of KCA being run through the CricHQ technology platform. In addition KCA will work together with CricHQ to capture and monitor development of the 1000s of players at all levels that play cricket throughout Kerala. CricHQ will be adopted by all of the coaches at KCA to help them with the huge task they have of finding and developing the best players.

KCA secretary, Mr TC Matthew said:

“We  are delighted to partner with CricHQ and see your solution as the most comprehensive in the market to help KCA achieve their objectives. We looked at a number of solutions but what CricHQ offers appears to be far superior to any other products on the market. We are extremely pleased to have made the decision to partner with CricHQ.”

CricHQ has also made significant inroads into Sri Lanka, signing a deal with the Sri Lankan Scorers’ Association which will see all games scored live on CricHQ. Chinthaka Jayanath, president of the Scorers’ Association Sri Lanka said:

“As Sri Lanka’s premier scoring, analysis & statistics organisation we at the Scorers’ Association of Sri Lanka are extremely glad to be associated with CricHQ. We believe that the solutions offered are in keeping with the times & demands of the world’s cricketing fraternity and have no doubt that this association will be a long & healthy one.”

CricHQ has also employed a team of customer support staff in Sri Lanka to assist the developing operations in region. Arran Braganza, CricHQ General Manager in Asia said:

“These are very exciting times and we are growing extremely quickly across Asia. Our number one focus at this moment in Asia is creating a world class team capable of supporting such growth. We are confident with the people we have, and are hiring, that our customers will be delighted that they have chosen to partner with CricHQ.”

With much more planned in the near future for CricHQ in Asia, we look forward to announcing future updates of the company’s latest developments in the sub-continent.

Ryder secures 2013 Domestic Fujitsu Heat Pumps MVP award

 Jesse Ryder is the Fujitsu Heat Pumps Most Valuable Player in domestic cricket for 2012/13.

Ryder was in the form of his life early in the summer and quickly moved well clear at the top of the Fujtisu Heat Pumps MVP table. Even the greatest players in the world find it hard to stay in form throughout a whole summer and although Ryder’s form was not as dominant in the second half of the season he was still maintained a comfortable distance ahead of teammate Michael Papps and a resurgent Gareth Hopkins, who made a good fist of becoming the first player to win successive MVP titles.

Ryder finished the season with 395.13 MVP points. Hopkins was second with 371.30 and Papps third with 353.96.

Read More

McCullum wins International MVP honour

Brendon McCullum was rewarded for his consistency for the Blackcaps to ultimately win the International Fujitsu Heat Pumps MVP rankings for the second consecutive year.

No player has defended their MVP title before in either Domestic or International categories. McCullum had a magnificent series against England to ensure Tim Southee and Kane Williamson were unable to come close to stealing the Fujtisu Heat Pumps MVP honour from McCullum.

McCullum finished the international season with 223.96 MVP points, a mere five points ahead of Tim Southee who was second with 218.91.

Read More

As the peak body for cricket in the United States, USACA administers over 35,000
players playing in eight regions across the country and continually strives to provide
tangible benefits to Leagues and Clubs that will enhance the experience of cricket for
everyone.

USACA CEO Mr Darren Beazley said the deal was great news for everyone associated
with American cricket at the grassroots level and beyond.

“With CricHQ as our cricket technology innovation partner for the next three years, it’s
going to make scoring games via iPads, tablets and mobile phones easy. It will also
mean the administration, scheduling and analysis of games is set to become a less
painful process for everyone from club managers right through to coaches, umpires and
players. As our various leagues sign up with CricHQ and get their heads around how it
all works, we’ll be working with the CricHQ team to capture and monitor development of
our players at all levels.

I am pleased to advise that all financial 2013 USACA members will receive access to
the CricHQ package at a significantly reduced rate. This is yet another service USACA
provides to its members and a very public commitment to enhancing the game right
across the USA.”

CricHQ Chief Executive Simon Baker said the deal with USACA was another significant
milestone for CricHQ.

“We’ve recently announced partnerships with New Zealand Cricket, Cricket Ireland and
the Sri Lankan Scorers association so we’re starting to get on a few radars which is
great.

It’s still early days, but with the support of a professional body such as USACA working
with us, we’re looking forward to providing the American cricketing community with
some really useful new functionality and technology.”

About CricHQ

CricHQ is a cricket technology company based in Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in
2010, it now has 58 staff in seven countries. It has developed popular smartphone and
tablet cricket scoring apps, as well as live scoring and competition management
software.

Hooked on Cricket has been critical to cricket’s participation in Rotorua, not only in promoting cricket as a sport, but also by encouraging kids to be active within a team sport environment. Players from the MoleMap Masters team will hold a coaching session for Rotorua’s young cricketers, including those from Hooked on Cricket schools, prior to the match on Sunday.

Northern Districts Cricket has been proactive in supporting Maori cricket and have established, what is currently the only representative Maori cricket team in New Zealand. This is the third time the two teams have met in what is becoming something of an annual fixture. Northern Maori have emerged with victory over the past two years so the MoleMap Masters will be keen to secure their first win against Northern Maori to round out this season’s Choice Hotels Masters Series.

Northern Maori Manager Graeme Stewart said “we think this match is important to continue developing cricket in Rotorua and to encourage both greater Maori participation and excellence in cricket in general.

“It also meshes perfectly with the NZCPA’s objectives and is a fantastic opportunity to turn on a real show for the Rotorua public and to engage them in cricket.”

Adding to the excitement for Northern Maori players is the chance to establish a New Zealand Maori cricket team. The ICC has invited a team from New Zealand to participate in the ICC Indigenous tournament in Brisbane during August. Other teams participating include Australian Indigenous, Papua New Guinea (winners of the ICC East Asia Pacific tournament) and an ICC EAP tournament team (made up from other Pacific Island nations).

However, to confirm New Zealand Maori’s participation in this tournament a team sponsor is required.

The NZCPA, Northern Districts Cricket and New Zealand Cricket are working hard to find a sponsorship partner for the New Zealand Maori team, to not only allow participation in this tournament but also to grow opportunities for Maori through cricket participation, especially via the Twenty20 cricket format.

This is the final Choice Hotels Masters Series match of the summer and the NZCPA have put together a strong side that features a host of former international and domestic players.

NZCPA’s Ewen Thompson said “the match on Sunday is really important to us as we continue our support of cricket in Rotorua and to promote cricket to young Maori players.

We hope there will be plenty of kids there for the junior coaching session on Sunday morning and lots of support for the match in the afternoon.”

A key feature of the Choice Hotels Masters Series this summer is that MoleMap are offering a FREE spot check service to all spectators, families and players at each of the matches. The NZCPA are pleased to work with MoleMap in helping to raise awareness about the benefits of getting regular skin checks, especially for those most at risk such as cricketers, who spend large amounts of time in the sun.

This Choice Hotels Masters Series match will be available to be viewed ‘Live’ on CricHQ.com.

MoleMap Masters team list

• Glen Sulzberger (capt) - New Zealand and Central Districts
• Dean Askew - Auckland and Central Districts
• Rob Hart - New Zealand and Northern Districts
• Jaden Hatwell  - Northern Districts
• Peter Ingram - New Zealand and Central Districts
• Peter McGlashan - New Zealand, Northern Districts and Central Districts
• Michael Mason - New Zealand and Central Districts
• Mark Orchard - NZ A and Northern Districts
• Bradley Scott  - New Zealand and Northern Districts
• Sanj Silva  - Central Districts and Sri Lanka A
• Ewen Thompson - New Zealand and Central Districts

Schedule for the day

11am – 12noon          Junior Coaching Session, Smallbone Park, Rotorua

1pm                                MoleMap Masters v Northern Maori, Smallbone Park, Rotorua

12noon – 3pm            FREE spot checks by MoleMap

But behind sports technology company CricHQ is Wellington’s Simon Baker, who since founding it in 2010 has grown the company to 50 staff based in six countries – the majority of them in a new head office in the capital city.

Developing web-based and mobile technology for cricket fans, players, administrators and coaches is the cornerstone of CricHQ’s offering, with its match-scoring function the hook that has seen it become a household name – in cricket mad houses anyway.

A deal with New Zealand Cricket that will see CricHQ become the software provider of choice for all cricket associations was closed last month and CricHQ recently launched a partnership in India.

“We’ve got some big partnerships in place overseas around competition management and player databases and now we are stoked to be working with NZC in our own backyard now too,” Baker says.

Why did you become an entrepreneur?

I saw a gap in the market for a really good piece of cricket technology that took all the hassle out of scoring games, capturing stats and managing competitions. And CricHQ was born out of that thought.

At a personal level, I’ve always been ambitious and had ideas but in large corporates where I’ve worked it has been frustratingly hard to beat the bureaucracy and get things over the line. CricHQ was the chance for me to create something useful and build a team of people where ideas are encouraged and acted upon, not stymied.

What have been the biggest obstacles?

Forming a global business based anywhere is not easy. The biggest issue is finding the right people here in Wellington, and getting advisers with relevant experience and scars on their backs has also been tricky.

Name one thing you’ve learnt while in business and from whom?

There’s a line in the Last of the Mohicans film that says, “I would rather make the gravest of mistakes than surrender my own judgment”.

I agree with that – you should listen to others, but trust your own judgment. Nine times out of ten you’ll be better off going with your instinct rather than taking the advice of overpaid and overhyped experts.

What are your business and personal goals?

Our goal is to help the cricket community enjoy their sport more through the use of technology and fresh thinking. I’m lucky that my business goals happen to be aligned to something that is one of my passions out of hours.

Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs?

Be open about your ideas and actively seek the advice of others. Some of the best advice you’ll get will be from people passionate about wanting to help out

What have you sacrificed to be an entrepreneur?

Like everyone else out there running a business with lots of overseas clients, I’ve kissed goodbye to many hours of sleep and free time.

Who is your “business guru”, or who do you admire, and why?

I don’t really have a single business guru, rather I have a wide network of people who I respect and admire for differing reasons. Normally these people have done things their own way and dared to challenge the status quo – people like Richard Branson and James Dyson.

What do you do in your downtime?

When I’m not in the middle of a cricket ground somewhere around Wellington you’ll find me spending time at home with my wife Lorna.

Do you think businesses should “give back” to the community?

Absolutely, and giving back is one of the cornerstones of our company. We partner with cricketing organisations around the world and work alongside them for the benefit of the wider game.

What has been your biggest disappointment since you started your business?

We haven’t had any major setbacks or disappointments yet, but if I think about things that have bugged me then it’d be some of the expensive unhelpful advice that came our way early on.

What is one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you?

No unique or quirky talents, but I’ve always been a petrol head and competed in a bunch of different motorsports. One day I’d love to compete in the New Zealand Targa Rally.

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