From her first over with the ball to the point when the winning runs were scored, Trinidad and Tobago’s women’s cricket team skipper Anisa Mohammed was in the thick of things.
She stepped up with the bat and ball yesterday to lead her team to an easy six-wicket victory over the Leeward Islands in their penultimate match of the Cricket West Indies T20 Blaze, at Warner Park in St Kitts.
Batting first, the Leewards were restricted to 120 for five off their 20 overs with Mohammed grabbing two wickets for 21 runs and taking the responsibility of bowling the final over.
She continued to lead from the front with the bat, smashing a six and two fours in an unbeaten 19 off 13 balls as T&T raced to 121 for four off just 17.4 overs to secure their second victory of the competition.
Mohammed struck with her first delivery in the second over of the game, bowling opener Kimberley Anthony for a ‘golden duck’ with the batter playing across the line and missing one that went on to rattle the stumps.
The T&T spinners continued to apply pressure with Karishma Ramharack sending back Melicia Clarke, who was caught at mid-off by Leeann Kirby for ten. A 51-run stand for the third wicket between Divya Saxena (37 off 36 balls) and Amanda Edwards (26) revived the Leeward Islands innings, taking the score to 65 at the halfway stage before medium pacer Kirbyina Alexander intervened.
Edwards, trying to up the tempo in the second half of the innings, got a top edge to Djenaba Joseph at backward point. But as Edwards left, Jahzara Claxton (36 off 35 balls) arrived to boost the score with a 44-run stand with Saxena for the fourth wicket.
Saxena hit four boundaries while Claxton struck three fours and the only six of the innings, which came off Shalini Samaroo in the 18th over.
Nineteen runs came off the final three overs as the Leewards ended the innings on a high but the momentum stayed with T&T thanks to Shunelle Sawh, who struck 26 off 21 balls with three fours to set the tone for the chase.
Sawh signalled her intent with two fours off Claxton as T&T raced to 19 without loss after two overs. But Kimberly Anthony got lucky for the Leewards in the next over with Reniece Boyce (6) pouncing on a full toss and finding Claxton at mid-wicket.
Sawh departed a couple of overs later, caught at cover off Jenison Richards with the score on 48 while Djenaba Joseph (14) was caught off Amanda Edwards in the tenth over with the score on 61.
Shalini Samaroo and Britney Cooper got the chase back on course with a 31-run fourth wicket stand that took T&T to 92 in the 15th over before Samaroo was caught for 20 off Rozel Liburd.
Skipper Mohammed then joined the party, hitting a full toss from Melicia Clarke for the first six of the innings to take her team to triple figures. Britney Cooper joined in with a flick for four in the same over as T&T wrapped up the win with 14 balls to spare. T&T will face Guyana in their final game tomorrow.
Summarised Scores:
Leeward Islands 120-5 (20 overs) (Divya Saxena 37, Jahzara Claxton 36, Amanda Edwards 26; Anisa Mohammed 2-21, Kirbyina Alexander 2-15, Karishma Ramharack 2-21) vs T&T 121-4 (17.4 overs) (Shunelle Sawh 26, Britney Cooper 21 n.o., Anisa Mohammed 19 n.o.) --T&T won by 6 wickets
