The issue is about integrity.
"Integrity
is
the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and
uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and
values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and
truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions."
Wikipedia
These QSDCA regulations: Sat Reg 14, Sun Reg 25 & Super 20 Reg 25 say that results, scores and MyCricket entries should be completed by 11.59pm on the Wednesday following the last day of play.
MyCricket logs all data entries of results by users. The times, the names and the things that were changed. All of it is on record and is visible to administrators.
A casual audit of some of these logs in February and March of 2020 showed that the practice of extremely late scores entry (sometimes months after a game has been completed) is not unknown.
Without completed scores entry, matches remain unconfirmed. This allows scores to be changed and team lists to be altered well after games are finished.
It's there in the logs. We have a record of who did what and when.
And immediately it looks as suspicious as it can be.
QSDCA is not a professional association. We admit that we rely on good will and trust to ensure this data entry is 'straight'. We don’t have an army of auditors who check every score and every result of 30 or more games every weekend.
I hope there are plenty of teams that are doing this straight. But it only takes one rotten apple....to ruin it for all of us.
A great comment I heard recently was this is potentially a much worse violation of the Spirit of Cricket than any amount of casual rubbing of a ball with abrasive paper.
Both would be, frankly, cheating (and not the ‘accidental’ kind.)
At least ball rubbing requires some perverse skills to have an effect which is then temporary and marginal. Getting an old ball to swing takes effort and talent. After 10 or 15 more overs it will be harder to achieve. It might be wasted on very crummy (or very good) batsmen. I can rub the ball all I want but I still can't bowl well enough to get anyone out....right? (Well I know I can't.)
Changing a team list to get some guy 'qualified' for a final is flat-out corrupt.
There's a good chance that it has happened already.
Adding runs to a score for a round before Xmas to get some extra points is flat-out corrupt.
There's a small chance that it has been happening for a while.
CAN I EMPHASIZE THAT WE CAN'T PROVE THIS IS HAPPENING YET!! ??
To be honest I’m not sure we want to. (It’s so much horrible work and the outcomes are so disappointing...)
Earlier this year when two instances of this slack, lack of integrity was revealed the committee was disappointed, angered and first reaction was to fine the bejeesus out of anyone who does it.
But it was pointed out that to be fair to everyone, every data entry would need to be checked. This would mean an insane amount of audit checking (of everything) which just 10 committee members are unwilling (and practically unable) to take on.
The difficulty for managers is that we need to do so much work to catch anyone "at it".
And the consequence of any false allegation would be appalling.
If we catch one culprit and others remain uncaught (or even subject to rumour/speculation/innuendo) then resentment becomes general and damaging. The resulting storm of trust deficit and wounded feelings is very likely to do great harm to the association and the game.
But this is not inevitable.
It is very, very important that we act quickly to maintain the integrity of scores, results, team lists and registrations.
Luckily we have several very good solutions at our disposal to choose from.
And most of these do not involve changing ANY Playing Regulations.
Without completed scores entry, matches remain unconfirmed. This allows scores to be changed and team lists to be altered well after games are finished.
It's there in the logs. We have a record of who did what and when.
And immediately it looks as suspicious as it can be.
QSDCA is not a professional association. We admit that we rely on good will and trust to ensure this data entry is 'straight'. We don’t have an army of auditors who check every score and every result of 30 or more games every weekend.
I hope there are plenty of teams that are doing this straight. But it only takes one rotten apple....to ruin it for all of us.
A great comment I heard recently was this is potentially a much worse violation of the Spirit of Cricket than any amount of casual rubbing of a ball with abrasive paper.
Both would be, frankly, cheating (and not the ‘accidental’ kind.)
At least ball rubbing requires some perverse skills to have an effect which is then temporary and marginal. Getting an old ball to swing takes effort and talent. After 10 or 15 more overs it will be harder to achieve. It might be wasted on very crummy (or very good) batsmen. I can rub the ball all I want but I still can't bowl well enough to get anyone out....right? (Well I know I can't.)
Changing a team list to get some guy 'qualified' for a final is flat-out corrupt.
There's a good chance that it has happened already.
Adding runs to a score for a round before Xmas to get some extra points is flat-out corrupt.
There's a small chance that it has been happening for a while.
CAN I EMPHASIZE THAT WE CAN'T PROVE THIS IS HAPPENING YET!! ??
To be honest I’m not sure we want to. (It’s so much horrible work and the outcomes are so disappointing...)
Earlier this year when two instances of this slack, lack of integrity was revealed the committee was disappointed, angered and first reaction was to fine the bejeesus out of anyone who does it.
But it was pointed out that to be fair to everyone, every data entry would need to be checked. This would mean an insane amount of audit checking (of everything) which just 10 committee members are unwilling (and practically unable) to take on.
The difficulty for managers is that we need to do so much work to catch anyone "at it".
And the consequence of any false allegation would be appalling.
If we catch one culprit and others remain uncaught (or even subject to rumour/speculation/innuendo) then resentment becomes general and damaging. The resulting storm of trust deficit and wounded feelings is very likely to do great harm to the association and the game.
But this is not inevitable.
It is very, very important that we act quickly to maintain the integrity of scores, results, team lists and registrations.
Luckily we have several very good solutions at our disposal to choose from.
And most of these do not involve changing ANY Playing Regulations.
INTRODUCE A LOCK DEADLINE FOR MATCHES
- We should introduce an automated Lock Deadline in MyCricket for all matches. (I suggest 12 midnight Wed night/Thu morning after the end of the match. This corresponds with the existing regulations. See Sat Reg 14.4)
- We should introduce a standard penalty for late entry of results. (Could be: some points, all points, an effective fine (e.g. $100 a day)? Whatever it is, it should be motivational.)
- Many points "errors" in data entry seem to be due to minor scoring problems (e.g. things don't add up right or are recorded as byes rather than leg byes).
- So if we ELIMINATED bonus points for runs and/or wickets then a lot of the data entry/correction would become unnecessary.
(Note: This idea would require wiping out or rewriting the bonus points rules.)
- Most matches would then result in 4 points for a first innings win, nil for a first innings loss or 2 each for a draw (And that’s it… scores hardly matter unless the game is very close.)
- This may prompt another argument about what would replace bonus points or indeed why do we have them at all but consider this data entry advantage first.
- We might still need some way to split teams on equal ladder points for finals places.
- If we had electronic scoring on tablets: the adding up is greatly automated.
- Also MyCricket Live Score automates the job of checking player registration and checking team lists. (It is possible to add casual new players but it involves some typing.)
- Also MyCricket Live Score greatly reduces the admin task of entering results and player scores into MyCricket after the match.
- If there is no live internet link at the match, the finished day's play is transferred from the scoring tablet to MyCricket whenever an internet connection becomes available.(i.e. when the scorer gets 'home')
- Android pads are pretty cheap. Powerbank batteries are available too. Training is not that hard to arrange.
- There are technological and human skills issues in implementing electronic scoring but these can be overcome.
- We could appoint neutral scorers to as many games as we can AND PAY 'EM. (Like we do with umpires....) Teams and players might see this as expensive but potentially it would restore and guarantee integrity in an instant.
- We could appoint a paid Association Statistician/Auditor whose job is to chase each and every missing result, score or player. Expensive and annoying in one neat package!
The off season is an ideal time to reset expectations about this problem, make up some effective new rules and procedures which we could all agree and implement without guilt or recriminations.
It's a way forward.
Do we want it?
ABM, Tu 10-March-2020
(Rewrite Sun 26-Apr-2020)
(Rewrite Sun 26-Apr-2020)
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