Blessy leads the way for women cricket scorers in the UAE

By K.R. Nayar

Blessy Rivin is the scorer at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium for the ICC T20 World Cup. In the UAE, where women haven’t taken up scoring yet, her enthusiasm and passion for this can pave the way for more women scorers. It’s time women in the UAE too take up scoring.

Blessy Rivin scoring from the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium press box

Women’s cricket has been gaining momentum in the UAE.  Cricket is no longer considered a man's sport here and the UAE women’s team now regularly plays in international cricket. As a result, a few women have also qualified as umpires. But women as scorers in the UAE was missing.

Blessy's T20 World Cup accreditation card as scorer 

It was a pleasant surprise to meet Blessy Rivin, who is one of the scorers in the press box at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium for the ICC T20 World Cup. Watching her go about her task, she seemed to be enjoying every moment of it.  Armed with a bunch of colour pencils, it was interesting to see her neatly enter every detail of the match, and at times one could see her busy on her calculator trying to figure out the smallest detail.

Blessy's scoring course certificate from the Singapore Cricket Association 

Blessy took up scoring in 2011. She went on to narrate how it all began: “I began scoring while in Singapore. My husband, Rivin Varghese, was working for Singapore Airlines and was also the captain of their cricket team. So I used to go with him to watch his matches although I did not know anything about the game. Except for some India-Pakistan matches, which I used to watch on television, I wasn’t really keen on watching the game. I had no idea about the rules and regulations of the game too. One day, the regular scorer for Singapore Airlines did not turn up, and the team manager Manoj Patel asked me if I could score. I took up the challenge and told him that if he could explain the guidelines to me, I could try to do it. So for the second match too, even though the regular scorer turned up, they asked me to be there and score as well. I would keep asking him questions and learnt a lot from him.

Blessy's Asia Cup accreditation card as scorer

"Seeing my enthusiasm, Patel suggested that if I attend the Singapore Cricket Association training course for scorers if I was interested. I approached the association and attended their course, and received a certificate. After that, the Singapore Cricket Association started inviting me to score for their domestic matches and for the national team contests as well. My first international match as a scorer was the  Asian Cricket Council Under-19 women championship in Singapore.”

Blessy with Mahela Jayawardene 

Blessy started scoring in the UAE in 2015 when her husband joined Etihad Airlines. “Etihad has a cricket team too and it was their team manager Mohammad Zaheer bhai (brother) who introduced me to Abu Dhabi Cricket Council. Very soon I started to score the Abu Cricket Council matches. I wanted to learn more about the game and so decided to become an umpire.  The Abu Cricket Council recommended that I attend an umpiring course in Sharjah. Although I completed that course, I am still waiting for opportunities to officiate matches. In the meantime, I focussed more on scoring. In fact, I am loving it because it teaches me to concentrate and focus and at the same time enjoy the game. I am sure if more women come forward to do umpiring as well as scoring, more opportunities will open up,” she added.

Blessy's umpiring course certificate 

Blessy, who hails from Pandalam in the southern Indian state of Kerala, has already scored in the Asia Cup matches in 2018 and the Abu Dhabi T10 matches. She has also scored when an English county team played in Abu Dhabi. “The county team had Allen, an experienced scorer,  and he taught me a lot about scoring.  I also watch YouTube videos on cricket scoring. I use different colour pencils for each bowler so that I don’t go wrong when entering details. I have done digital scoring too, but I enjoy the thrill of manual scoring. Technology is progressing fast and it is likely that manual scoring will soon fade away. In digital scoring, it is only about ticking boxes; but in manual it is a joy putting dots on the score book for every delivery and also when a batsman scores sixes," says Blessy.

Blessy with legendary pacer Brett Lee 

Blessy’s husband Rivin is thrilled that his wife enjoys scoring. “My husband has been my biggest support. From a young age, he has always dreamt of playing in a World Cup and being with legends. Thanks to scoring, I am not only watching live this World Cup but also getting to closely see some of the legends of the game. I am keen on progressing as a scorer, and it would be great if there are Level One and Level Two scoring courses too like in umpiring,” said Blessy.