Shabnim Ismail: Protea women fast bowler shines on world stage

When Shabnim Ismail first developed an interest in one of South Africa’s most popular sports, back in her youth, she had to overcome an environment which projected the idea that cricket was not for girls.

Now, nearly 20 years later, Ismail is a powerful force within the national team and has played a key role in creating a new domestic landscape in which the women are performing better than the men.

Born in Cape Town, Ismail learned the rules of cricket by playing with her brothers in the backyard and she first turned out for a mixed gender team because she had no other choice.

While she had to be patient to get the few chances she was given, she took full advantage of those opportunities when she did.

One day, while kicking a football around, she was approached by a scout for a local women’s cricket team and after seeing Ismail’s natural ability with a bat and ball, she urged her to join the squad.

“I met her at the nets the following week and I was actually better than she was,” Ismail recalls. “So I joined a club at the age of 16 and that’s how I got started.”

Soon establishing herself as a formidable fast bowler, Ismail made her senior debut for Western Province in October 2005, shortly after her 17th birthday. Less than two years later, she went on to make her international debut, in January 2007, at the age of 18, in a one-day game against Pakistan.

She has since played one Test (a rarely contested format in the women’s game), as well as 98 one-day internationals, taking 136 wickets at an average of 20.88, and 92 T20 internationals, earning 99 wickets at an average of 18.65.

Ismail is currently the 10th-highest wicket taker in the ODI game and she is just one scalp away from becoming just the fourth woman to claim 100 wickets in the T20 format at global level.

Shabnim Ismail of South Africa bowls during the ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup match between South Africa and Pakistan at Sydney Showground Stadium on March 01, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

In a challenging sport, in which high levels of skill, technique, fitness and concentration are required, Ismail has had bad days, most notably when she gave away 89 runs against hosts England in the round robin stage of the 2017 World Cup.

At the time, it was the second-most runs conceded by a single bowler in a women’s ODI.

But her consistency ensures the 31-year-old star continues to play a key role as a senior member of the Proteas team.

This week, she helped the side reach the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup before they were knocked out in a five-run defeat to hosts Australia, in a play-off clash affected by rain.

It was Ismail’s seventh successive appearance at the T20 showpiece, with South Africa reaching the penultimate round for the second time.

And while the national men’s team has always received more support than the women’s side, it has been five years since the men’s squad reached the World Cup semi-finals in any format, with the women’s team again proving their immense potential.

Possessing the ability to deliver the ball at nearly 130km/h, Ismail forms a powerful spear at the head of the SA side’s bowling attack and her statistics reflect the hard work she has invested into her career.

She was the team’s highest wicket taker at the 2009 T20 World Cup in England, the 2013 World Cup in India, the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh and the 2018 T20 World Cup in the West Indies.

In 2011, at a World Cup qualifying match against the Netherlands in Bangladesh, she took six for 10, with the Dutch side being bundled out for just 36 runs.

With this performance, she became the ninth woman – and the first South African – to take six wickets in an ODI.

In March 2018, she received a national contract from Cricket SA, as part of a 14-member squad in a breakthrough move by the federation.

Ismail’s top-flight career has also included appearances for the Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia and for the Yorkshire Diamonds in the Women’s Cricket Super League in England.

In 2015 she was a nominee for Sportswoman of the Year at the SA Sports Awards and last year she was included in the ICC Women’s T20 team of the year.

Though Ismail admits she is not as sprightly as she may have been when she first held a cricket ball in her hand, the mechanical engineering student says she works hard to maintain her form on the field, and she feels she has a lot more to offer the Proteas side.

“The older I get, fitness and diet has become more of a concern for me, so I’m really strict with both,” she says. “If you’re an elite athlete, you need to keep your body in shape and eat healthy, so that’s really important for me, but I think I’m controlling it well.”

Wesley Botton.

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