Cricket clubs around New Zealand are set to ditch traditional paper score books for a new online system which allows players to enter figures live on tablets and smartphones.
Wellington-based cricket technology company CricHQ is celebrating after being picked by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to lead a major overhaul of the club-level scoring system.
By next summer, clubs based at all six major associations and 22 district associations will be able to enter live match scoring, competition scheduling, point tables and statistics via the CricHQ application.
It is an attempt by NZC to move all club scoring and a database of cricket fans and players onto one easily accessible platform.
CricHQ was founded in 2010 by tech entrepreneur Simon Baker, with top players Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum, and has built itself up to 58 staff in seven countries.
Its free smart phone and tablet app means players and fans can check out live scores, batting averages and other data online, regardless of whether they are at the ground.
Chief executive Baker said winning the project with NZC was a major milestone for the company, which had until now found greater recognition overseas than at home.
"Aside from our app and some household name cricket player investors, we've been flying under the radar here in New Zealand.
"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 said he was keen to see all grassroots players and fans able to track detailed records of their "good, great and ugly achievements" in cricket.
While the CricHQ app is free for anyone, the company makes its money when cricketing bodies like NZC sign up and pay a fee to use its platform as an official scoring database.
Advertising and sponsorship deals also provide revenue for CricHQ, which has about 30 cricket-playing investors.
Baker said the company's focus right now is not about generating "astronomical profits", but on creating a product which transforms cricket scoring on a global level.
NZC spokeperson Craig Presland said the partnership would make the administration, scheduling and analysis of games at all levels much easier.
"After each match, electronic score sheets will be able to be sent to the relevant administrators, then collated with other team results, points tables updated, and player aggregates and averages re-calculated.
"The competition's management component will also lead to improved communication in relation to match scheduling."
More than 80 per cent of the CricHQ's staff play competitive cricket and there are now 500,000 people on the network.
The CricHQ app is free to download for use on iOS and Android devices.
Those who do not have the app but want to view statistics can go to www.crichq.com.