IT has been a busy few days for me this weekend, starting with a visit to Edgbaston on Friday to watch New Zealand take on Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy.

What a pity it rained just as the game was getting interesting with the Aussies nine overs into the game and 53-3 and, more importantly, way behind on the Duckworth-Lewis par score.

Kiwi supporters just needed the rain to hold off for another 11 overs.

It wasn’t to be but we were still entertained with a century from the New Zealand captain and some big hitting from the opening batsmen, followed by a typical collapse at the tail end of the innings.

There's nothing new there and something they will definitely need to work on.

On Saturday I ventured into the second team competition and did a game at Westhoughton between the hosts and Bradshaw.

Bradshaw struggled to get to 105, and at 53 without loss it looked as if Westhoughton were cruising to a victory.

Ten overs later they were 88-7 due to some fine bowling by Ian Ross supported by George Booth and it was anyone’s game.

Westhoughton finally reached their target, having lost another wicket, but it was a very good game and what was nice to see was both teams giving their youngsters some senior cricket experience. There are some very good young players coming through.

On Sunday it was a trip to Rainhill CC in Merseyside to observe a scorer who was going for a grading along the Association Cricket Officials Pathway.

Scorers are very much part of the game and a competent one is a great help to umpires.

Unfortunately this doesn’t always happen and time has to be spent during the tea interval sorting scores out.

With electronic scoring introduced to the league this year many clubs thought it would be ideal for young scorers but that hasn’t always been the case.

Boredom soon sets in as all they are doing is pushing one button and the programme does the rest.

Some are unprepared for power failure or other problems and have no book as a back-up to score in.

It makes the life of the other scorer more difficult as they feel they are scoring on their own.

Scorers work as a team alongside the umpires and it is essential for all to be well prepared and concentrate on the task in hand.

Those scoring electronically still need to know how to book score in case something goes wrong.