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Down with the manual, bring on the technology.

This will happen at Kensington Oval tomorrow when, for the first time, a computerised, electronic scoreboard will be in use at the ground when West Indies meet South Africa in the fifth and decisive One-Day International.

The scoreboard, on the roof of the Pickwick Stand at the Joel Garner (Northern) End, will be lit up thanks to a group from the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Peter Gibbs and other members of the Department of Computer, Science, Maths and Physics are behind the initiative.

We have been working all week and we hope all goes well on Wednesday (tomorrow), Gibbs said at the Oval yesterday.

The idea started from a project at UWI where a student did it as part of a project and now we have brought it here.

Gibbs is being assisted by Edward Nurse and Charles Clarke, who will sit alongside the official scorer during the day's play and send signals via computer to the electronic board. There is no need for anyone to be physically on the board, which is 24 feet wide and eight feet high.

Only the numbers on the board are digital. A fully electronic board would have an alpha-numeric system, thereby displaying numbers and names in digital format.

The Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad is the only other international ground in the region with an electronic scoreboard.

Apart from the new scoreboard, Kensington will also have the addition of terrace seating next to the main scoreboard at the eastern end of the ground.

Yesterday ground staff worked for ten hours to get the field and pitch in tip-top shape. The pitch looked devoid of grass, while the field was lush-green showing no effects of the ongoing drought.

Workmen from TWI International were also busy painting giant logos on the outfield while the black sightscreens were a dominant feature at both ends of the ground.

© The Barbados Nation