“Dear cricket family.” – how Shabnim Ismail began her goodbye to the international stage.
Telford Vice / Cape Town
THE smile in Shabnim Ismail’s eyes gave her away on an enchanted evening under a bedouin canopy on a beach in Cape Town in February. Along with every player in the T20 World Cup, she was at the city government’s function thrown to welcome all involved in the tournament.
One of Ismail’s opponents walked in her direction. As the player was about to pass Ismail the South African caught her gaze and stuck out a leg in a mock attempt to trip her. The leg was quickly withdrawn and the two players shared a laugh. It was an insight into a quality Ismail isn’t often credited with: a mischievous sense of fun.
Far more often we have seen Ismail as the embodiment of the angry fast bowler; 1.65 metres and 60 kilogrammes of sheer ponytailed fury liable to lash out with gestures, facial expressions and verbally at opponents and teammates alike. And it worked. Like the rest of the best in her field she became more than the sum of her slight parts. So big that she was hardly challenged when she proclaimed herself “the fastest bowler in the world”. You want to argue with that? Good luck. Besides, she nailed down the numbers to support the hype.
Ismail is South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in both white-ball formats. But she transcended cricket in her country and became one of the all-time greats of the world game. Only Jhulan Goswami has taken more wickets in ODIs. Sixty-four more, but the Indian bowled 3,853 more deliveries. Two of the three bowlers behind Ismail have sent down more balls than she has. She is fourth among T20I wicket-takers.
Ismail was one of five debutants in an ODI in Laudium in January 2007. That August she featured in South Africa’s first T20I, against New Zealand in Taunton. She has been the heart and soul of South Africa’s attack for much of the ensuing 16 years.
On Wednesday she pulled the plug on all that by announcing her retirement from the international stage. That brings the number of caps worth of experience South Africa have lost from December 2022, or when Mignon du Preez retired, to 1,106. Du Preez has been followed into the sunset by Lizelle Lee, Dané van Niekerk, Trisha Chetty and now Ismail. Those five players account for more than a quarter of the places in the XIs of all the 380 matches South Africa have played across the formats in their history.
Debating who is the greatest among the famous five would be tedious, futile and hopelessly subjective. But there can be no discounting Ismail from that conversation, should we be churlish enough to want to have it. We should be satisfied to know she was central to the best game of cricket any senior South Africa team — male or female — have yet played, the T20 World Cup semifinal at Newlands in February.
Ismail breathed defiance in the face of heavily by dismissing Sophia Dunkley and Alice Capsey in the sixth over after Danni Wyatt and Dunkley had rattled up an opening stand of 53 off 31, and then bowling Heather Knight off her pads with three balls left in the match. The sight of Knight on one knee, head bowed, the toe of the bat she held in one hand resting lightly in sudden, shocked repose on the pitch, was a study in dignified defeat. It told of the truth that, on the day, South Africa were the better team. Ismail deserved much of the credit for establishing that fact.
So it says something that, despite her prima donna on-field persona, Ismail began her sign-off statement on Wednesday with “Dear cricket family”. There was more selflessness in her explaining her decision by saying she wanted to “spend more time with my family, particularly my siblings and parents as they get older”.
But she will keep the fast bowling fire burning in franchise leagues. Fresh from playing in the inaugural WPL in March, she is an established drawcard in the WBBL and the FairBreak tournament. Expect to see as much of her as her almost 35-year-old body will allow.
Her mind? That’s as sharp as ever. Its job, along with stoking the fire, is to keep finding the fun to put a smile in her eyes.
Cricbuzz
Bulletproof Truth 
A fabulous firebrand performer for the MP’s over the last sixteen years. I remember her heroics in the final overs of the 2017 WWC Semi-Final at Bristol when she had the England team on the rack and Trish Chetty, the wicketkeeper took a sensational one-handed catch off her bowling to dismiss Gunn as she tumbled backwards. Sadly, it was not the MP’s day on that occasion and the tears of captain DvN at the end of the match told their own story of just how much this team had rattled the confidence of England, the tournament’s host nation. That defeat set the template for the team’s self-belief that they were good enough to take on and beat the best in the world. The T20 WWC semi-final at Newlands in February when Shabim demolished the England team’s middle order with her sensational spell of fast bowling was sweet revenge for 2017 and a testament of just how far they had come through their self-belief and commitment to each other in the last six years. The whole of Newlands was on its feet and cheering the team and Shabim to victory that day including me a Pom. What a day, what a player. Wishing her and her family a joyful and prosperous retirement along with Dane, Lizelle, Trish, and Mignon-true pioneers of the women’s game in SA. How we will miss them!