Inspired by Narine, Ramharack goes from companion to hero

When Anisa Mohammed retired in January as just one of five women to take more than 300 international wickets, it was a bittersweet moment for Karishma Ramharack.

Since rising through the ranks in Trinidad and Tobago, Ramharack has often been mentioned as Anisa’s partner in crime. And when she graduated to the West Indies team in 2019, this association as a bowling duo became known worldwide.

Ramharack wore this as a badge of honor rather than feeling hurt that she was never able to create an identity of her own. On Thursday in Sharjah against Bangladesh, Ramharack was no longer under the umbrella. Given free license to run wild, she went from companion to hero.

Ramharack’s deceptive progeny – attributes borrowed from Anisa and Sunil Narine, two people she heard a lot about growing up – earned her 4 for 17, her second-best figures in T20Is. It helped stop Bangladesh while giving West Indies a huge boost to their net run rate; they now top the table with one game against England to go.

Ramharack came in in the fourth over and struck immediately to dismiss Shathi Rani, deceiving her during the escape and leaving her perplexed. On the next play, after seeing hitters wanting to get out, she got the aggressive Dilara Akter out with a faster delivery.

With two quick wickets in the bag, Hayley Matthews turned to her other spinner, young Ashmini Munisar, to try and get some quiet overs. But when Ramharack was reintroduced in the 13th over, it looked like Matthews was reaching for his safety net, with Nigar Sultana and Sobhana Mostary mounting a quick 40-run stand.

Having provoked Nigar with loop and frustrated Mostary with a carromball that apparently made her doubt, Ramharack had the last laugh when Mostary was stumped as he tried to get out. This was a mortal blow from which Bangladesh did not recover.

This allowed Munisar and Afy Fletcher, the other members of what has been a run-heavy attack in this tournament, to excel without having to face the pressures of bowling to two set batsmen.

“I remember her coming onto the team and probably not being the most athletic person on the team, even when it came to just playing on the field. And even the way she performed in that aspect of her game, just putting in the hard yards in every practice session, trying to get better and trying to get better.”

Captain Hayley Matthews in Karishma Ramharack

“Yes, I think she’s obviously someone who’s been around for a while, but she’s been able to really come into her own I think over the last couple of years, making the (ICC) team in the tournament last year and then being able to put in performances like those,” Mathews said. “I think she’s improved in every aspect.

“I think her control and her attitude towards bowling was definitely something I saw change. So yeah, I think it was great to have her and not just play in the lineup but go out there and really want to play a huge role within the team and she did that today.”

Ramharack was not always a bowler. She was a big star at softball cricket, swatting cross-hit cricket balls for fun, until her primary school teacher decided that Ramharack would also be a handful at hardball cricket. It turns out that Ramharack was, but with the ball; she released it from the front, with her palm facing the batter and making the ball spin both ways.

It was then that word spread that Ramharack could do something similar to another young spinner who would go straight into the batsmen at Queen’s Park Oval. That youngster was Narine, who made it big with the T&T Red Steel in 2008, around the same time Ramharack broke into the local under-19 squad.

Being talked about on the same level as Anisa has seen Ramharack enter the consciousness of wider women’s cricket circles in the Caribbean. The only obstacle was the lack of an adequate road structure. This meant she had to do more than the time she would have otherwise had at the regional level.

As she spent much of her time training alone, Ramharack is self-taught. It wasn’t on her debut in 2019 that she entered the high-performance configuration. Since then, improvements have been remarkable.

“I remember her coming onto the team and she probably wasn’t the most athletic person on the team, even when it just came down to her performance on the field,” Mathews said. “And even the way she performed in that aspect of her game, just trying hard in every training session, trying to get better and trying to get better. And I think that attitude shows on the field. I’m really happy for her and I’m really happy that she’s now getting the results of her hard work.”

Rahmarack’s drive to become a regular received a major boost in 2022 when Anisa took a six-month break from the game. It was around this time that Rahmarack became someone who took matters into her own hands. In a way, not having to bowl together and having to do it alone opened her up to a world of new possibilities.

Thursday’s performance was one of the few super hits she performed. Ramharack and the West Indies will hope there is another in store on Tuesday against England.