Christchurch, Mar 10 (UNI) Thirty-one-year-old New Zealand batter Emily Drumm is all set to become only the fifth woman to earn 100 one day caps when the White Ferns take on India in the penultimate tie of the five-match series in Lincoln tomorrow.
Drumm, whose career seemed over at one stage, admitted the prospect of reaching 100 ODI caps was a motivating factor for her to come back from a career-threatening injury.
Drumm returned home from the Women's World Cup in South Africa in early 2005 with a serious hamstring injury but after plenty of soul-searching she decided to play on.
And her reward for that decision is to join Australia's Belinda Clark, fellow New Zealander Debbie Hockley and the England duo of Clare Taylor and Jane Smit as the only players with 100 ODI caps.
''I had mentally decided to finish after the last World Cup,'' she said.
''It was my fourth (World Cup) and whatever the result it would have been a nice way to finish. But to be forced to come home after two games of the tournament with no chance to play a part in defending the title (New Zealand won in 2000) because of something out of my control was very disappointing.'' ''It was a major low and I could not finish that way. I had given too much to walk away so I decided to give it another nudge and 100 caps was a motivation to get there,'' she said.
''It was hard, both mentally and physically, because my rehabilitation took three months but I am glad I made that effort.
It has been a fantastic journey for me over 15 years and I have had an enjoyable time getting to the magical figure.'' But despite her obvious pleasure at the impending achievement, Drumm - also the fourth-highest run-scorer in ODI history - was keen to stress that figures were not the be-all and end-all for her.
''It is something I am very proud about and I feel a real sense of achievement but I do not play with statistics in mind,'' she said.
''I want to leave with a respectable record but the main thing for me is to win cups and trophies. If I score a century in a final and lose a match then it means nothing to me and that is why I love cricket so much.'' ''There is individual recognition like this but I could go through life without it and I would always rather have what we won when I was captain,'' she added.
On her career highlights, Drumm said, ''By far it was winning the World Cup in 2000. You don't get many chances at winning one and to do it on home soil and as captain made it a dream come true.'' ''As an 18 year-old I had a terrible final at Lord's (against England) in 1993 so there was also a part of me trying to bury some demons. It was the Holy Grail for all of us with months of planning and hard work and to come up against our nemesis, Australia, and beat them when it really counted... You could not have written a better script as there was such a sense of achievement,'' she added.
UNI XC AY PM DS1312
Drumm, whose career seemed over at one stage, admitted the prospect of reaching 100 ODI caps was a motivating factor for her to come back from a career-threatening injury.
Drumm returned home from the Women's World Cup in South Africa in early 2005 with a serious hamstring injury but after plenty of soul-searching she decided to play on.
And her reward for that decision is to join Australia's Belinda Clark, fellow New Zealander Debbie Hockley and the England duo of Clare Taylor and Jane Smit as the only players with 100 ODI caps.
''I had mentally decided to finish after the last World Cup,'' she said.
''It was my fourth (World Cup) and whatever the result it would have been a nice way to finish. But to be forced to come home after two games of the tournament with no chance to play a part in defending the title (New Zealand won in 2000) because of something out of my control was very disappointing.'' ''It was a major low and I could not finish that way. I had given too much to walk away so I decided to give it another nudge and 100 caps was a motivation to get there,'' she said.
''It was hard, both mentally and physically, because my rehabilitation took three months but I am glad I made that effort.
It has been a fantastic journey for me over 15 years and I have had an enjoyable time getting to the magical figure.'' But despite her obvious pleasure at the impending achievement, Drumm - also the fourth-highest run-scorer in ODI history - was keen to stress that figures were not the be-all and end-all for her.
''It is something I am very proud about and I feel a real sense of achievement but I do not play with statistics in mind,'' she said.
''I want to leave with a respectable record but the main thing for me is to win cups and trophies. If I score a century in a final and lose a match then it means nothing to me and that is why I love cricket so much.'' ''There is individual recognition like this but I could go through life without it and I would always rather have what we won when I was captain,'' she added.
On her career highlights, Drumm said, ''By far it was winning the World Cup in 2000. You don't get many chances at winning one and to do it on home soil and as captain made it a dream come true.'' ''As an 18 year-old I had a terrible final at Lord's (against England) in 1993 so there was also a part of me trying to bury some demons. It was the Holy Grail for all of us with months of planning and hard work and to come up against our nemesis, Australia, and beat them when it really counted... You could not have written a better script as there was such a sense of achievement,'' she added.
UNI XC AY PM DS1312
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