GROS ISLET, St Lucia, CMC – Seasoned off-spinner Anisa Mohammed says West Indies Women are highly motivated to win the next two One-Day Internationals of the four-match series against Pakistan and pick up the all-important six ICC Championship points on offer.
She was speaking after helping the Windies Women pull off a thrilling three-wicket win in the second ODI at the Beausejour Cricket Stadium here Sunday, and claim the first two Championship points available.
“I think they’re playing some really good cricket but I think we are ready for the next two games. It’s important that we get these six points so I think our players will come out and play as hard as possible,” said the 27-year-old.
“Looking at the Pakistan unit, they’re at the bottom of the table but you still can’t underestimate any team and I think that we learned that in the first game and coming out in the next two games, we really have to play them hard because they will come back hard at us.”
West Indies suffered a shock defeat to the Pakistanis in the opening contest last Friday, going down by six wickets. However, the game did not count towards the ICC Championship.
The hosts hit back hard on Sunday, bundling out the Pakistanis for 149 and then chasing down the target with 19 deliveries remaining.
The game was not without drama as West Indies Women slumped to 106 for seven in the 34th over and needed an unbroken eighth wicket stand of 44 between Kyshona Knight (28 not out) and Mohammed (19 not out) before getting over the line.
“I think it was a really good knock at the end. I really enjoyed batting with Kyshona. We kept our eyes on the scoreboard, tried to maintain a good required run rate of under three runs, and we know that we had overs in hand and if anything happened we still had two batters to come,” Mohammed said.
“We just had to stay positive, keep backing each other and we knew it would happen. I knew I was batting with Kyshona so it was just a matter of staying with her.
“I know she is capable of hitting the ball so I wanted to stay there and just back her and it worked for us in the end.”
West Indies Women play Pakistan Women in the third ODI, another day/night affair at Beausejour today.
