West Indies want to 'spoil the party' for Australia - Anisa

Mohammed
Anisa Mohammed has turned the heat up on Australia (Getty Images)

ESPNcricinfo staff Feb 16, 2020

 West Indies won the Women's T20 World Cup title in 2016, beating Australia in the
final, but ended on the wrong side of the result in 2018 as Australia beat them in
 the semi-final, that too on home soil. Anisa Mohammed hasn't forgotten that, and
wants to "spoil the party" and "return the favour" when the next chapter begins in

Australia in less than a week.

 "We've come to win this World Cup and take it back from Australia," Mohammed,
whose 118 wickets make her the most successful bowler - man or woman - in
@
T20Is, told ICC. "It would be nice to spoil the party. They spoiled ours, so it would

° be nice to return the favour.

"Australia have been doing really well. They recently played in the tri-series
[against England and India] and came out on top, but we've been working hard
ourselves.

"The final in 2016 was a really special day. That was probably the biggest highlight
of my career - winning a World Cup is something I'd love to do again. As a team,
we know what it's like to win and what it's like to lose. Winning is definitely better,
so we want to win this time.

"Australia are known as the top team in the world. All teams will be gunning to
beat them."

Back in 2016, West Indies beat Australia, the favourites, at Eden Gardens in
Kolkata in the final, with Hayley Matthews' career-defining 45-ball 66 and Stafanie
Taylor's 57-ball 59 taking them to the target of 149 in the last over of the chase. In
2018, Australia's bowlers were at the top of their game, finishing West Indies off
for 71 for a 71-run win in North Sound. More recently, the two sides met in a
bilateral series in the Caribbean in September 2019, where Australia blanked the
home side 3-0 in the T20Is - they won the ODIs by the same margin.
"We have some history with Australia," quick bowler Shakera Selman said. "Since
the last series, I've noticed a lot of the girls have built some sort of friendship and
some sort of camaraderie.

"They've beaten us a few times. They were hurting after we beat them in 2016 and
they came back to beat us two years later. It would be a big game if we faced them
in the semi-finals but we've got to take each one as it comes."

At the 2020 edition, four-time champions and favourites Australia are in Group A,
while West Indies are in Group B, along with England, Pakistan, South Africa and
Thailand. The tournament begins on February 21 with the opening clash between
hosts Australia and India in Sydney, followed by West Indies v Thailand on
February 22.