Adelaide Oval's historic scoreboard

Architect Kenneth Milne designed the Adelaide Oval scoreboard which began service on 3 November 1911, the clock was added in 1912 and the wind vane in the 1930s.

The board has four levels on the inside connected by stairs. It is almost entirely mechanical using mainly original machinery. The only electrical items used on the scoreboard are the light bulbs indicating the batsman on strike, and the fielder who has fielded the ball.

The board is manned with pride and accuracy by members of the SACA’s ground staff. It requires only two attendants for football but as many as six for limited-over and Test matches. Activity at the fall of a wicket, and particularly at the change of an innings, can be fast and furious.

The scoreboard is not Adelaide Oval's original, the first was erected in 1879 and another in 1885. The one which preceded it was ‘re-erected’ in 1898. They were simple boards with the operator, in front, hanging plates on hooks.