Janet (Pinky) Todd has stood down as a radio scorer after scoring in her 30th Cup Match last week.Todd is welcoming the break after three decades on the radio, first with the ZFB pair Archie Brown and Joe Brown and then moving on to ZBM two years later to replace John Holder.It has been a wonderful experience, but now is a good time to step away, she said.“A lot of things have changed and cricket is not the same,” said Todd who recently made the decision to retire.“I’ve worked with three commentary teams, and I think it was the experience down at St. David’s for the Eastern Counties game with the music blaring right next to us when we couldn’t even hear each other talk that made my decision.”Todd first got involved in scoring 31 years ago when former Southampton Rangers player, Eldon Raynor, convinced her to try the role.“My nephew Calix (Todd) used to play for Rangers and I always used to be at the game supporting him and Eldon approached me and said, ‘we need a scorer, you’re always here, why don’t you score’,” Todd recalled.“It went from there. I don’t think the men at the club at the time were interested in scoring.”Todd liked it so much that she even sat umpiring courses and became a qualified umpire. But it was scoring where she contributed the most to cricket, coming along at a time when many of the scorers in local cricket were women, including the likes of Yvette Brangman, Stephne Smith, Danika Gibbons and Lovette Dickinson who have been the scorers for the two Cup Match clubs.Brangman has been with Somerset for about 35 years, while Dickinson is the present St. George’s scorer.“There was always Yvette for Somerset as long as I can remember, I found Yvette and Stephne there,” said Todd.The hope was one day to become the Island’s first female commentator but that never materialised, lamented Todd.“I was never given the opportunity and at one point even went down to the Islands to gain an insight into different styles of commentary.”She spent time in the commentary booths with Everton Weeks, Geoffrey Boycott, Tony Cozier, Reds Perreira and female commentator Donna Simmons during the early 1990s.Back in Bermuda her scoring continued as part of the commentary team with Randy Horton and Colin Blades, later Albert Steede and Cleon Scotland and, for the last couple of years, with Wendell Smith, Allen Richardson and Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock.“It’s very demanding and needs a lot of concentration,” she said of the job. “You can’t get drawn into the excitement.“One thing I always did, even though there were three other sets of eyes and we all see the same thing, was I always held my scoreboard as the official score. So during a break I would go and scrutinise my book to make sure what I’ve got is right.“Through the scoring the likes of George Trott, Luther Wilkin and Randolph Spencer encouraged me to come to (umpires) meetings. I just went to a refresher course this year that the umpires put on. Some of the rules have changed so it is always a learning curve and you have to keep up to date.“You have to know the changes in the umpires’ signals and the rules and regulations, like the no-balls and wides with the extra run.”Todd was recognised for her long service by Heritage Productions during their annual Emancipation Celebration Awards Luncheon in 2010 and the year before that received a Special Achievement award during Government’s annual sports awards.Todd isn’t available for the second round of the Eastern Counties on August 17, so Cup Match was her last appearance with the ZBM broadcast team. She is looking forward to watching cricket as a spectator again.“It would be nice to sit back and watch somebody make 100 runs and watch their expression and watch people run onto the field,” she noted.“It would be nice to sit down and take it all in. This year would have been my 31st Cup Match but I missed one year, 2007, the year it rained in St. George’s. I went away and I regretted it because I had withdrawal symptoms.“I said I would never do that again, so there is no telling what I will feel like next year.”