# Is Cricket Code?

Note: No cricket knowledge is needed to solve this

You need to quickly pop into your local cricket club to grab some kit, but upon arrival you discover the clubhouse is locked. There is a number pad on the door and stuck to the door is the following score sheet:

Text version:

Over  |  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20
| • 4  • 0  • •  6 •  4 •  • 1  • 0  6 •  4 •  4 •  • 6  • •  4 •  • 0  • 1  • 4  8 •  • 4  • •  2 •
Score | 4 4  1 •  1 •  • 6  • 2  • 1  0 •  • •  1 •  • 1  4 1  9 8  • 4  0 0  • •  4 •  • •  1 •  0 1  • •
| • 4  0 1  • •  6 7  • 4  0 0  • 1  5 •  1 •  • 1  • •  • 8  • 2  1 1  • 0  4 4  • 7  1 2  • •  • 1



It seems to be a score sheet for the innings of a T20 match. You take a look at it and after a minute or so you realise what the code is.

# What is the code for the clubhouse?

### How does the code relate to cricket and this question?

You can enter the clubhouse by typing:

1 - 9 - 0 - 9 - ENTER

First:

Note that the 'dot balls' in each over can actually be read as Braille. Translating each Braille symbol into a letter gives us:

KEYISBOW(L)SUMSARETEXT

This gives us two important phrases: "KEY IS BOWL" and "SUMS ARE TEXT".

(Note that usually an 'L' in Braille is 3 dots down the LHS of the six - here, they are written down the right, but they would feel the same to a blind reader, and we need the 'L' here for the rest to work...)

Next:

Follow the instruction 'SUMS ARE TEXT' by adding up the runs scored in each over and converting the resulting numbers to letters using A1Z26 to obtain:

16-2-1-25-10-2-1-11-6-6-11-25-10-2-1-16-15-8-1-3
PBAYJBAKFFKYJBAPOHAC

Finally:

Interpreting the instruction 'KEY IS BOWL' to mean that we need to use a Vigenere cipher with the converted A1Z26 string as ciphertext and using 'BOWL' as the key, we obtain the result:

ONE NINE ZERO NINE ENTER

This is the code we need to enter into the clubhouse lock! Furthermore, note that the year 1909 has double significance to this question:

1. It was in the year 1909 that the International Cricket Council (ICC) was founded, as the 'Imperial Cricket Conference'. (The ICC is the governing body responsible for international cricket...) There is a nod towards this hidden in the title, since the leading letters of "Is Cricket Code?" spell 'ICC'...

2. 1909 was also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, the inventor of the Braille dot system, and the year in which Helen Keller began advocating for the United States to adopt Braille as the official reading aid for the blind. This finally came to pass in 1932 with the launch of Standard English Braille.

• Indeed!! Well done, also that L was just an error on my part. I taught myself basic Braille a few years back, seems like I need to refresh it :P. I’m glad you found both meanings of 1909!! Thought only the first would be found (the title was also a lil hint btw), well deserved tick! Apr 10, 2020 at 18:42