Finding the Live Cricket Score

Do you just have to know the live cricket score? The latest technology can bring it to you whether you’re at home, in the office or on the move.

TV text services are great for a one-off live cricket score check. However, you have to be a diehard armchair fan to watch the scorecard update itself every minute or so. Life’s just too short! But, there are lots of alternatives to this that free you from the TV screen. Live audio commentary is described elsewhere on this site, but read on for the latest hi-tech solutions.

If you’re on the move, the latest live cricket score can be sent to your mobile phone as a SMS message, via free or paid services. For example, Cricinfomobile provides scores on demand; you send an SMS including their code for your team, and receive an instantaneous reply listing the total score, batsmen’s scores, wickets, overs used and run rate, all for 25p per text.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to a cricket alerts service. For example, register online with Cricmania, and they will send you an SMS alert or e-mail on the fall of wickets, change of innings or the end of the match. This is a free service, but you only get skeleton information.

Next up the scale of sophistication is to receive the live cricket score on your WAP mobile or PDA. Try requesting this service from the BBC by texting the word “cricket” to 81010. You'll receive a return SMS with the link to their mobile cricket web site, giving you access to results, fixtures and live scores. They won’t charge you for the information they send, but your mobile provider may do, as there are many tariffs for data usage.

Once you’re online via your PC, the options multiply for free live cricket scores. RSS feeds are available from many cricket web sites, and update your bookmarks with the latest score. If you’re not familiar with RSS, you’ll need to do some preparation to receive information this way. This helpful review on CNET explains the pros and cons of different RSS news readers, while many cricket sites summarise how RSS works.

You can find RSS feeds of live cricket scores on major cricket sites like Cricinfo, ECB, and Cricmania. However, the downside of RSS is that you still need to click on a bookmark in your browser to check the latest cricket score. Cricket fans want to see the updated score with minimum effort, and this is where the desktop scorecard comes into its own.

You can find a full screen live cricket scorecard on many sites, including cricketnext, sabcsport, abc.net, BBC and Cricinfo. However, a pocket sized desktop scorecard frees up your screen for other uses, as it can be placed unobtrusively in the corner of your display. There are several varieties, but the basic principle is that you see a summary of the full scorecard that is updated ball-by-ball or once/twice per minute.

These desktops vary in simplicity and in the use of Flash graphics. The Cricinfo version is simple, comprehensive and effective, and covers first class cricket around the world. Choose your match, then the summary score for team, batsmen, wickets, overs and run rate will be shown in a small window that can be dragged anywhere on the screen.

There are good alternative desktops on the skysports and sabcsport sites. However, my favourites are the stickiewicket and BBC Sport versions, and it’s worth giving you a few details of these. Why not give them a try and take your pick?

Stickiewicket provides a free download of a simple, Flash graphic "desktop ticker" that looks pleasing and keeps up well with live cricket scores. You can also choose a match, and link to a detailed scorecard. A nice touch is that it’s always the top window on your screen, so doesn’t get covered by your other applications. And you can choose to see a brief Flash graphic alert at key moments in the game. Lots of fun!

The BBC Sport desktop uses RealPlayer in an online, standalone window to show a live video scorecard. It’s slightly bigger than some of its competitors, and displays more information, but is still compact enough to tuck away in the corner of your screen. It has a major advantage that it also plays the live audio match commentary.

There are other variations in SMS, live scorecard and desktop score services, but this page shows you the basic options. So, whatever your location or your choice of technology, you can stay in touch with the big match and keep involved with the action. And, you can keep your family and friends involved too!

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