LEICESTER, England (CMC) – Senior player Anisa Mohammed has praised the 17-day preparation camp in Southampton and says it has left West Indies Women equipped and focused enough to win the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup here.
The Windies Women wrapped up the camp on Tuesday at the Ageas Bowl where they focused on all aspects of the game and more importantly, used the time to acclimatise to the notoriously difficult English weather.
“We’ve had a chance to get acclimatised to the conditions and also the pitches so over the last two weeks we have learnt some of the lengths and lines we have to bowl and the pace we need to bowl at and the fields we have to set,” the seasoned off-spinner said.
“It’s not going to be like back home in the Caribbean or the Asian conditions so it was good to be here for two weeks in advance and try to get all boxes ticked for the World Cup.”
Mohammad was part or the West Indies side which were good enough to reach the final of the last 50-overs World Cup in India four years ago, before going down to champions Australia.
The Trinidadian has been an integral part of the side’s success in recent years and also featured prominently last year when the Caribbean side lifted the Twenty20 World title in India.
Mohammed said she believed West Indies Women could now go one step further and also pull off the 50-overs title.
“I think we have a really good chance of winning this World Cup,” she asserted.
“We’ve made it to the final of the last 50-overs World Cup and I think after winning a T20 World Cup last year, that is also motivating us to want to win the 50-over World Cup as well. The spirit in the camp is excellent and we’re looking like we will win this.”
She added: “It is a totally different version of the game. It’s 50 overs now. The T20 win is behind us now and we’re just going to use that as motivation to try and win this 50-over World Cup.”
West Indies, who lost warm-up games against a strong England XI and a Southern Vipers side last week, will continue their preparation with another practice game against India Women today at Leicester Grammar School.
They will then play official ICC warm-up games against Pakistan and South Africa next week before opening their campaign against reigning champions Australia on June 26.
This year, the World Cup will be contested under a round-robin format and Mohammad warned that all the teams would pose a serious threat to West Indies.
“We can’t underestimate any of the teams because all these teams have played in these conditions before and we were very fortunate to be here for two weeks to acclimatise to these conditions,” she explained.
“All the games will be tough but we just need to play one game at a time.”
The World Cup runs from June 24 to July 23.