Women's World Cup: I said to myself, I'm a game changer, says Anisa Mohammed

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Dunedin, March 9 (IANS) Veteran West Indies spinner Anisa Mohammed revealed that before bowling the penultimate 48th over against England in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, she had told herself that she will be the game-changer for her team. Until that over, Anisa had 1/23 in four overs and England needed just nine runs off the last two overs for a nervy win.

After Anisa motivated herself with self-talk, she ran out Kate Cross from the non-striker's end, deflecting the ball from Sophie Ecclestone to the stumps at the bowler's end. On the fourth ball of the over, Anisa bowled a full delivery to which Anya Shrubsole yorked herself, giving West Indies a thrilling seven-run win.

"I'm a game changer. I'm not going to leave it up to anyone. I just need six balls and of that six ball I just need two to be good, and to get two wickets. I just keep believing in myself and I had to kind of calm myself and just see one ball at a time and in the end, I was able to get the job done," said Anisa in the virtual press conference.

Anisa insisted that there was never any panic in her mind that the match was going away from the grasp of West Indies. "To be honest at no point I thought we were going to lose this game. We knew we just need to get one wicket; once we get one wicket, just keep building pressure. We keep saying that every dot ball counts, and once we built pressure and we get one wicket, we knew that we were going to win this game."

So far, West Indies have turned out to be the giant killers of the tournament, defeating hosts New Zealand by three runs at Bay Oval before edging England, the defending champions. "To win the two games against the top teams in this tournament is definitely a motivation for us. And it kind of gives us that confidence knowing that if we can defeat the top teams then going forward once you play our best game, we can go all the way in this tournament," stated Anisa.

Anisa was in praise of big-hitting all-rounder Deandra Dottin, who flied like a bird at point to take a one-handed screamer to dismiss England opener Lauren Winfield-Hill. "I think I had the best seat in the house to see that. I think Deandra is one of those persons; she set a very high standard for herself and in whatever aspect of the game she plays."

"And to see her come out and execute, I think that was a crucial moment in the game. Deandra is a game changer whether she's with bat, ball or in the field. And I think it was a spectacular catch, and I know that we would continue to get more from Deandra."

West Indies will now face India at Seddon Park in Hamilton on March 12. Anisa signed off by saying that she has firm belief in her team to cause more surprise results in the tournament. "It's really good that we can beat two of the top teams in this tournament. I know a lot of teams are counting us as underdogs, we have not been playing a lot of good ODI cricket lately, but we have nothing to lose."

"So just a matter of us coming out here, having fun and keep believing in each other and keep believing that we can win matches and I'm sure that we have quite a lot of teams to surprise in this tournament."

--IANS

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