Index

Scorebook, Scoring record

The scorebook contains the written scoring record of the match, kept by the scorers. In the very early days of the game this record was not 'written' at all - the score was kept by cutting notches into sticks of wood - hence the use of the term notchers for scorers. Some scorers today don't write anything, either - using the ubiquitous laptop computer to record happenings on the field

There are two popular systems for keeping a written record - the most common of which is the Box system, as used in much club cricket. This is named after Charles Box, author of The Theory and Practice of Cricket, published in 1868. The other is the more informative linear system, invented by Australian W. H. Ferguson in 1905 for the Ashes series in England and subsequently