Worcestershire CCC scorer Sue Drinkwater has achieved the pinnacle of her career by officiating at the Lord's Test between England and South Africa.
Sue was proud to be the designated official scorer for the South Africa touring side for the opening Test of the 2017 domestic campaign at the home of cricket.
And Sue admits the occasion was made even more special by witnessing Worcestershire all-rounder Moeen Ali's man of the match display for England.
It followed on from her having also officiated in her first Women's World Cup match between the same two nations at Bristol last Wednesday.
Sue has been scoring for 40 years after first learning the ropes with Cheltenham club side Prestbury CC and then graduating to Chedworth CC where she has been in the role for 35 years.
She has been scoring Worcestershire home matches in recent weeks, while first team scorer Dawn Pugh continues her recovery from illness, in addition to second team matches.
Sue said: "I was the official South African scorer for the Test match at Lord's. I was very privileged, it is a huge honour and probably a once in a lifetime event.
"You usually only get one Test so I am very honoured and it was fantastic.
"For the games at Lord's, there is one man who does all the England games there and the other scorer is someone on the county circuit, either a first team or second eleven scorer, and usually from a club that doesn't host an international match itself.
"I was offered the appointment in May. I was very proud. This is the pinnacle for a scorer.
"Did I get nervous? Actually the easiest game in the world to score is the Test match. The higher you go, the easier it gets because there are so many other people to help you, to look after the scoreboard, help you spot the fielders etc.
"But I was still very nervous because I wanted to do a good job."
Moeen picked up 10 wickets in the match to add to his first innings 87 and Sue said: "That made it even more special. Even though I was designated as a South African scorer, I was cheering him on all the way. It was fantastic to see him do that.
"I was given several copies of the printed scorecard at the end to keep and I'm hoping Mo will sign one for me so I can frame it and keep it."
Sue has more prestigious international games to look forward to. She said: "Last Wednesday I scored the Women's World Cup game between the same two teams (England and South Africa) at Bristol.
"That was the first time I've done one of those and I'm back there this Wednesday and also for the semi-final.
"I also work as a scoreboard scorer at Lord's in between time and will be on scoreboards for the Women's World Cup final."
