GROS ISLET, St Lucia, CMC – Veteran off-spinner Anisa Mohammed has pointed to her record 100th wicket in Twenty20 Internationals as the highlight of her outstanding career, as she prepares to play her 100th T20I when West Indies clash with South Africa here tonight.
The 30-year-old has taken 113 wickets from 99 T20 Internationals and will join teammate Deandra Dottin in the 100 club, once she is named in the XI for the Windies’ second match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium.
Mohammed made history when she took her 100th T20I wicket in her 81st match two years ago during the successful Windies World Cup campaign in India.
“[The highlight of my career was] definitely the 100th wicket and that was in the last T20 World Cup in India,” Mohammed told reporters here yesterday.
“It’s nice to be able to play a hundred T20 International games but it would be nice for us to win this World Cup and retain our title. That would be a great achievement for us as a team.”
She added: “Whenever I step on the field I want to give it my best performance. Being able to take a hundred wickets and breaking that record – being the first male or female – it kind of hits you that you can do things that people thought you could never do.”
Mohammed made her debut in West Indies’ first ever T20 International 10 years ago against Ireland in Dublin, but ironically did not bowl a single ball.
However, she has since gone on to take three five-wicket hauls, along with an amazing hat-trick against South Africa last September during South Africa’s tour of the Caribbean.
Trinidadian Mohammed, who has also played over 100 One-Day Internationals, said she had tried successfully to carve her own niche in the international game.
“I like to be myself. From the time I started I always wanted to make a name for myself. I never wanted to emulate anybody else. Like I said, I wanted to make a name for myself and stand out,” she explained.
“I love representing West Indies. It’s one of the things I look forward to. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy waking up every morning.
“The girls on this team – we’re just not a bunch of girls who come together from different islands – we’re actually a family and I think that makes it a lot better to go out there and play as a team and that has been working for us.”
Not a big spinner of the ball, Mohammed has relied on her unerring accuracy over the years for her success, and says she had focussed on keeping her bowling simple.
“[It (action) has changed a bit over the past few years but off-spin is off-spin and you try to stick to the basics and that’s what’s been working for me over the years.”