England's unofficial scorer in Vizag Test Peter Chismon talks about his enthusiasm for the game

A 74-year-old Englishman Peter Chismon perhaps does one of the most underrated duties on the cricket field. He follows the game and notes down each and every ball into the sheets. Peter is the unofficial scorer of the English team and travels with the team for cover every game, but with the help of numbers.

His everyday routines involve reaching the venue then take his seat behind the cameras in the South Stand. Sets a plastic chair near the first row, and then reach out into his bag to bring out a rectangular book. As the players walk out, he settles in and opens his book to note down the players” names.

He has had a distinct presence at Visakhapatnam where India took on England in the second Test. Each ball is an event as he notes it in his scorebook — a process almost as meticulous as an official scorer”s work.

Based in Ipswich, Chismon has been travelling around the world to watch Tests and first-class matches at different grounds. Whenever he watches a Test match at a venue for the first time, he maintains a scoresheet. Visakhapatnam is his 59th Test venue. “I have around six (scorebooks) and I only score if I complete the full Test match. I”ve done 200 first-class grounds. Recently, Dharamsala was my 200th,” he said.

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Chismon retired from his job a decade ago but his cricketing journey began in 1982 when he left the Army. “The only way you can do 200 grounds, and I”ve been all over the world, is come to India. Any ground I go to in India, there is someone I know. During my visit to Dharamsala recently, there was one news reporter I knew because I met him five years ago,” Chismon explains.

The Ranji Trophy being played in every nook and corner of the country has allowed him to travel to different places and record his presence. His first visit to India was back in 2005 during Pakistan”s tour to the country.

Chismon”s wife is in a nursing home back in England due to dementia. Her illness meant that he wasn”t on the road for a couple of years. “I”ve been to all 10 Test-playing nations, but I haven’t watched England play a Test in Pakistan and New Zealand. I”m going to go to New Zealand the next time and that will be my 60th — Christchurch,” he says.

Though he knows he is getting older, his enthusiasm for the sport remains and he has set his sights on England”s tour to New Zealand in 2018.