DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – Experienced off-spinner Anisa Mohammed believes this is the year West Indies Women will bring a global title back to the Caribbean.
Two years ago in Sri Lanka, they watched as the men celebrated their triumph in the World Twenty20 Championship, while they were forced to be content with reaching as far as the semi-finals.
In 2010 they had suffered the same fate when the tournament was played in the Caribbean and last year proved even more frustrating when they lost the final of the 50-over World Cup in India.
“There is a different feeling this time around, that we’re going to win this World Cup,” Mohammed declared, as the build-up to the 2014 World T20 continued.
“Once the girls stick to the basics, do what we are supposed to and not get over-confident, we’re confident that we will do it. Reaching the finals in the 50-over World Cup was a great feeling for us.
“They were showing over highlights [from the 2012 T20 World Cup] and we were looking at the men celebrate and everyone was saying ‘that is going to be us this time around’. All the players are confident and ready for whatever comes our way.”
West Indies Women endured a torrid time on their recent limited overs tour of New Zealand, losing the one-day series 3-0 and the five-match T20 series, 4-0.
This was after coming off a strong showing in the Tri-Nation Series in Barbados last October when they trounced England and New Zealand, to win the tournament.
However, they easily brushed aside South Africa in their first warm-up game on Tuesday and Mohammed said with more familiar conditions, they were up for the fight.
“We’re happy with our first game. We’re back in our conditions where the sun is hot and we’re not playing in nine degrees,” Mohammed said.
“The girls played really well [on Tuesday] and I am confident that if we do what we did [then], or even better, that there is no way any team can beat us.”
West Indies Women play their second match on Friday against Australia at the Krira Shikkha Prothistan in Savar, with Mohammed pointing that a win would put the side in good stead ahead of their first game of the tournament.
“We’re playing on a different pitch so we’ll see what a different pitch will play like,” she said.
“Hopefully some of the players will get some runs and get their confidence going into the real big game on Monday playing against England which will be a big game for us. Hopefully [we can] go into that [match] with a big win.”
West Indies are playing in Group B alongside England, India, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh.
