TTCB honours WI, TT legend Anisa Mohammed

Legendary West Indies all-rounder Anisa Mohammed was honoured for her illustrious, two-decade-long international career, as a professional cricketer for West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago’s women’s teams.

Mohammed, 35, was one of four seasoned West Indies women campaigners, including Shakera Selman, Kycia Knight and Kyshona Knight, who called time on their international career in mid-January.

The right-arm off-break bowler, however, had the most illustrious career of the quartet and was paid a special tribute to by the TT Cricket Board (TTCB), TT Women’s Cricket Association (TTWCA) and member of the current national women’s senior team and staff on Monday.

At the National Cricket Centre in Couva, players, coaches and administrators highlighted Mohammed’s lengthy list of accomplishments, which deservedly positions her among the globe’s elite cricketers.

Top of her list, Mohammed said, was her becoming the first cricketer, male or female, to record 100 T20 International in 2018, and the West Indies’ capture of the 2016 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

She explained why these two major accomplishments meant so much to her. “After I earned the 100 T20I wickets, I only knew it was for both men and women when I got back to the hotel. I was shocked because, at that time, players like Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine, Shahid Afridi and Lasith Malinga were still playing,” she said.

“Winning the World Cup two years before was also something extra special to me and the team. It meant a whole lot.”

Mohammed is currently employed at Arawak and Company Limited in the accounts department. She continues to express interest in coaching and is willing to help improve both the TT and WI teams “whenever the opportunity arises.”

When asked about some of the challenges faced on her competitive travels across the globe, Mohammed said being away from family took the biggest toll.

“I’m a family person and I spent a lot of time away from home. After having a bad day or just a long day of cricket with the same players, and sometimes you wanted the comfort of your family, to have that reassurance and love from them. Not having my family close was my biggest challenge,” she added.

Looming back on her career, Mohammed was generally pleased and said cricket made her into a better person.

“I think I had a pretty successful career. There were also a lot of lows as well. I’m happy I was able to play for so many years and accomplish so much. But it could not have done that without the support of my family, friends, teammates, coaches and technical staff.

“It has definitely helped me to become a calmer person. Before cricket, I wasn’t very calm but the sport has helped me to become calmer, humble and appreciate where you come from. Sport helped keep me out of trouble.”

Also sharing their experiences working alongside Mohammed through the years were former national player and TTCB executive member Ann Browne-John, TTWCA president Majorie Thomas, Red Force women’s captain Britney Cooper and TTCB first vice president Arjoon Ramlal.

Both Browne-John and Thomas shared intimate memories of travelling the world and representing the maroon in a wide range of countries.

Cooper, who was joined by some of her teammates ahead of Monday’s CG United Super50 Cup first round of matches, lauded Mohammed’s work ethic, and was pleased to have developed further as a player, under Mohammed’s expert guidance.

Cooper played with Mohammed on both teams.

“I had the opportunity to play with Anisa for most of her career. We shared a lot of highs and lows,” she said.

Cooper told a story of a West Indies women’s tour of South Africa, in which two runs were needed to win from the final over, with both of them at the crease. Cooper said she hit the first run off the first ball but Mohammed, who faced the remaining five balls, was somehow unable to snag that lone victorious run.

“Unfortunately, we went on to lose that game, and I remember Anisa was not even welcomed into the team room. She didn’t even come back on the bus with us because we were all like ‘Come on Anisa, just one run’. We played all kinds of different scenarios and I remember how much it took a toll on her.”

Despite the devastating loss, Cooper said Mohammed showed resilience to cope.

“The good thing about that is it didn’t stop her. She continued to go out there and be a leader. She continued going on to win a World Cup, it didn’t stop from being the first human to achieve 100 T20I wickets.

“When life throws those boulders at you, pick them up and build a foundation. Having played under you as a captain, I pray that I can bring similar success to TT women’s cricket,” Cooper added.

Mohammed made her debut for West Indies at 14 at the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in Holland in 2003.

In the Women ODIs format, she took 180 wickets in 141 matches and is ranked fourth on the all-time list of wicket-takers. She has best figures of 7/14 against Pakistan in 2011, which is the third best figures in that format.

In the shorter format, Women T20Is, she copped 125 wickets from 117 matches with an impressive economy rate of 5.57 runs per over. Her best figures of 5/10 came against South Africa in 2009.

The former TT and West Indies captain was the leading spin bowler for the West Indies women for quite a while, and the opportunity allowed her to become the first cricketer (men or women) to take 100 T20 international wickets.

She was also the leading wicket-taker in the format with 125 scalps, but she is now third on the list, having not played the format in two years. But she currently holds the record for the most four-wicket hauls – seven.

One of her greatest achievements is being part of the T20 World Cup winning team in 2016.

Regionally, Mohammed plies her trade with her home team Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20).

In the inaugural season in 2022, TKR defeated Barbados Royals in the final by ten runs. Mohammed sealed the victory for her team by claiming the last wicket and finishing with the tournament’s best figures of 3/16.