Pon Sowbagya has the distinction of being the only woman to keep scores in the ongoing eighth season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).
The 31-year-old is also the only woman to have been assigned score-keeping responsibilities for an entire TNPL leg; in her case, Tirunelveli. Before her, the only woman who kept scores in the TNPL was assigned only a final.
On her experience so far, she said, “The climate was nice in Tirunelveli, and no match was delayed. There was a delay in Coimbatore due to rain; your patience gets tested with stop-starts like this. But in Tirunelveli, it went smoothly for me.”
A wicketkeeper-batter who plays for the Kancheepuram District team, Sowbagya got into scoring out of her own interest.
“When I began playing, I used to sit out on many occasions, especially when I was not in the playing XI. Even while sitting out, I wanted to be involved in the game in some way. So, when my college coach once asked me to do the scoring, I sat down with the scorers, learned how to do it, and got interested. I found that I was more focused on the match when I kept scores. Then, I started doing it in inter-college tournaments like the Buck Memorial and YMCA tournaments,” she said in a conversation over the phone.
“Sivakumar, who is a TNCA scorer-turned-umpire, used to officiate in inter-college tournaments. He was the one who suggested that I try and become a TNCA scorer,” she said, adding that she has been keeping scores in the TNCA league as well.
“In the TNCA league, it’s very rare to see a woman. It usually only happens when a player’s mother comes to watch the game or something like that.”
“I had a slight inhibition when I learned that I’d be on duty in the TNPL. In the TNCA league, I was in a familiar environment where everyone knew me. But the TNPL was going to be different, even though I was excited about the tour.”
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When asked if keeping scores helps her cricket in any way, she said, “It helps, for sure. As a wicketkeeper, I’m already focused on the game. Score-keeping requires the same level of attention. I get to observe how bowlers deliver, how the pitch behaves, what shots are played under various conditions, and how the fielding is set up. Watching the game with a hawk-eye view from the outside is different.”
“Whatever I observe, I try to replicate that in my game. For instance, I note how the wicketkeepers dive, how much they stretch, and what movements they execute. Earlier, I couldn’t play the slog sweep. I learned how to play it by watching the male cricketers in the TNCA league.”
Aspiring to become a BCCI scorer, she emphasised that patience is the most important quality for success in this role. “In a 20-over men’s game, one innings can take around 85 minutes. To stay completely focused during that entire period, you need to have patience.
“For instance, some bowlers might take seven minutes to bowl one over. You can’t get exasperated then. Other times, when the game moves fast — like when wickets are falling quickly — people, including journalists, ask for details. I can’t be rude to them in those moments.”
Revealing that many people, including women, have been expressing interest in becoming scorers, she also advocated for the due value and respect for the important work that scorers do. “When it comes to scorers, they are not taken seriously, both by the general public and the cricket fraternity.
“I’ve seen on-field umpires using mobile apps to keep scores, which can give off the idea that scoring is undervalued and that anyone can do it. However, a scoring app only shows the numbers. When we score manually, we capture detailed information, such as who dropped a catch and where. It’s not as easy as it seems. In those two seconds, we note down everything. For a dot ball, we know whether the batter was beaten or played a shot that resulted in no run. We have the complete match details in our hands!”
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