Basseterre, St Kitts – Anisa Mohammed will be on a major mission when she lines up for West Indies Women against South Africa Women in the five-match One-Day International Series, which bowls off on Monday. First ball in the opening match at Warner Park is 9:30 am (8:30 am Jamaica Time).
The attacking off-spinner is presently sitting on 85 wickets in 54 matches – the most by a woman in West Indies history. She has taken her wickets at an impressive average of just 14.54 runs per wicket and an economy rate of a mere 2.94 runs per over.
"I’m looking for 100. I pay close attention to the details in the game and I am 15 wickets away from 100. My aim is to look to get to 100 or as close as possible during the series against South Africa. That would require an average of three wickets per match, which won’t be easy, but I believe I can achieve it," Mohammed told WICB Media.
"That would mean I would have to be on top of my game in every match. It would be a great way to start the year in West Indies colours. The ultimate goal is to win the series against South Africa and get a good warm-up as we look to go to the World Cup in India – which is just around the corner."
Mohammed is one of the most experienced members of the Windies squad. She made her international debut way back in 2003 as a fresh-faced 14-year-old against Japan in the Netherlands. Since then she has emerged as one of the leading players in the women’s game and holds the world record for the most wickets in T20 Internationals. She had managed 64 wickets in 47 matches at the average of 12.75 runs per wickets.
"Before every year I set myself goals and before every series I set myself targets. Last year one of my goals was to help the West Indies improve as a team and try to win the World T20 in Sri Lanka. We did well as a team – winning against India and Sri Lanka at home and we also reached the semi-finals in the World T20. You could say we are moving forward," Mohammed said.
"This year one of the goals is obviously to reach 100 career wickets, but I also set goals with my team-mates. The first goal is to beat South Africa in these upcoming matches. We always play well at home and we always play well against the South Africans… we know we can beat them. As a team, we have played together for a while now and we know each other’s strengths and understand what each player is capable of."
Mohammed added: "We have played against South Africa a lot as well and we know the weak areas to exploit. They have some good players, but we have detected a weakness against slow bowling so we will look to use a lot of spin. That means I will have a really big role to play in this series.
"The other major goal is the World Cup in India. The West Indies have never won the Women’s World Cup and it would be amazing to go to India and bring back the trophy. We are preparing well and we will give all we have. But first up is South Africa, we will look to win here and take it from there."
The squad is full of quality allrounders including: ICC Women’s Player-of-the-Year Stafanie Taylor, Shanel Daley, Tremayne Smartt, and Shemaine Campbelle. The batting is led by Taylor and also includes the powerful world record holder Deandra Dottin, and opener Juliana Nero, who is the most capped West Indian woman in ODIs.
The bowling is led by Mohammed and she will be backed by teenaged leg-spinner Shaquana Quintyne as well as new ball bowlers Shakera Selman and Subrina Munroe.
FULL SQUAD:
Merissa Aguilleira (Captain)
Stafanie Taylor (Vice Captain)
Shemaine Campbelle
Shanel Daley
Deandra Dottin
Kycia Knight
Anisa Mohammed
Subrina Munroe
Juliana Nero
June Ogle
Shakera Selman
Tremayne Smartt
Shaquana Quintyne
Team Management
Sherwin Campbell (Head Coach)
Pat Greenidge (Team Manager)
Andre Coley (High Performance Coach)
Janel Springer (Physiotherapist)
Amena Highland (Strength & Conditioning Trainer)
Trent Sargeant (Analyst)
West Indies v South Africa Schedule
Monday, Jan 7: 1st One-Day International – Warner Park (9:30am)
Wednesday, Jan 9: 2nd One-Day International – Warner Park (9:30am)
Saturday, Jan 12: 3rd One-Day International – Windsor Park (9:30am)
Sunday, Jan 13: 4th One-Day International – Windsor Park (9:30am)
Tuesday, Jan 15: 5th One-Day International – Windsor Park (9:30am)
Saturday, Jan 19: 1st T20I – Beausejour Cricket Ground (4pm)
Sunday, Jan 20: 2nd T20I – Beausejour Cricket Ground (4pm)