Trinidad and Tobago Red Force middle order batsman Jason Mohammed described his team's triumph in the CG United Super 50 final to seal its 14th title as emotional, especially after hearing the negative reactions of the team selection before the series bowled off.
At 37 years, Mohammed has been singled out as one of the ‘old men’ in regional cricket by many inside and outside of Trinidad and Tobago. Some have even suggested that the local team, which also boasts Kjorn Ottley (33), Darren Bravo (34) and Shannon Gabriel (35), as taking younger players' spots.
But after being crowned the region’s best 50-over team on Saturday evening, the former West Indies captain admitted the team stuck together despite the negativity from the cricket public.
“Of course, there's no better way we could have answered (criticism), obviously winning a tournament and doing it unbeaten, and some of the guys we've mentioned have got the most wickets, most runs, best fieldsmen, so there's no better way we could have done that,” said Mohammed who scored heavily during the local cricket season in 2023 for Powergen Sports, and remained consistent throughout the trial matches.
He admitted there will come a time when he and his peers will have to call time on their Red Force career.
“Obviously it has a time for all of us to go, but I think in sports now it's developed so much and there's so much things happening that there's no longer an age bracket,” said Mohammed.
“Once your body is fit, and obviously the main thing is performance, I don't see why people want us to leave the arena, yes, we'll have to leave one day and younger guys will have to take our place, but people must also remember this is our life and this is our job, we have bills and family to take care of as well, so it's no better way for us to do it.
“It's very emotional for us because of those sort of things being said about us,” Mohammed continued. “There was no point in time we were under pressure by it, but we were just happy to do it for our country, our cricket board, our selectors, and most importantly our captain and coach who had to sit up a lot from all the noise coming from outside, so credit must go to our coach (David Furlonge) a lot and I'm very happy for him that we could have done it for him.”
Mohammed also announced that he has called time on his international career, after playing 36 One Day Internationals and nine T20 internationals for the West Indies.
He said, “I got into the Legends League in India, so hence the reason why I had to make my announcement as soon as possible, so that was the reason for it being announced before the game.”
However, Mohammed, who has scored 3,608 List A runs and 4,433 first class runs for the Red Force will continue to represent the country for another two years.
“I think I'm 37 now, so being 38, moving into 39 at that time, I think it would be a good time to walk away. Obviously, I have some personal things still I want to achieve personally for myself, and I feel like I can just help the younger guys develop and get better, so when myself and most of the senior guys move away, we'll still be a pretty good place in terms of Trinidad and Tobago cricket.”
The Red Force defeated the Leeward Islands Hurricanes by seven wickets under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando on Saturday night to win their first CG United Super 50 title since 2021.