Members of the media and spectators at the Third npower Test at Trent Bridge between England and New Zealand were bowled over by the detail and clarity of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club’s new scoreboard and replay screen.

Technographic Displays was involved in all stages of the project, from system design, through software development and display installation to match-day operation and technical support.

The new replay screen is part of an £8.2 million new stand and office complex project being undertaken for Notts CCC by Clegg Construction. The project’s architect, Maber Associates, designed the 83 square-metre display into the structure of the office complex with the result that the display integrates perfectly with its surroundings. The new stand was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 5th June.

When first approached about the project in 2007 by consultants Arup, Technographic Displays recommended Mitsubishi Electric’s model ODQ10. Following the appointment of Clegg as main contractor, Mitsubishi Electric manufactured the display modules and Digital Screen Controller. Technographic Displays worked closely with Clegg to ensure that the installation of the screen did not compromise overall progress on the office building. The screen was first used at the Friends Provident Trophy match between Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire on 4th May, two weeks ahead of schedule.

In addition to the hardware installation, Technographic Displays developed TechEvent (originally developed in 2007 for athletics event presentations) into a cricket-oriented presentation system. The new version integrates with third-party cricket-scoring software, provides a flexible control interface and enables multi-format video inputs to be combined with scoring graphics and media replays generated within the TechEvent graphics server.

The LED display is driven at its dot resolution of 864 x 960 to ensure optimum detail of both video and text on the screen. The majority of matches are non-televised and at these events the entire display operates as a full-screen scoreboard. For televised events, the portrait format enables a 56 square-metre 4:3 video picture to be displayed above a 27 square-metre abbreviated scoreboard driven by TechEvent.

Tom Paterson, Match Operations Manager at Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club with responsibility for overseeing the redevelopment project, commented “Technographic Displays has provided us with a superb service, both during the design and installation of the screen and during our early adoption of the control software. The display quality is fantastic and the TechEvent software is proving to be just as powerful, flexible and reliable as we had hoped. In fact, we have yet to explore its full potential and look forward to doing so. The screen attracted universal praise at the Test Match, with many pundits describing it as the ‘best in cricket’ ”.

TechEvent Control Rack at Trent Bridge

Trent Bridge screen in operation at 3rd npower Test Match, June 2008

Trent Bridge screen in operation at LV County Championship match between Notts and Sussex, May 2008

Installation of the first screen module by Technographic Displays, March 2008

More photographs - ICC World Twenty20 2009