CricketShabnim Ismail, Fast & Fierce Proteas Women, Bowler Retires From International Cricket
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One of the quickest, successful most respected fast bowler in women’s cricket Shabnim Ismail has announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect.

Ismail spend 16 years with Proteas Women,  played number of world cup, performing incredible in all of them and leading always from the front the bowling attack.

Her best World Cup performance came in 2023, where she pick 27 for 3 to lead her team into the Women’s World Cup finals for the first time in the history.

There are many other memorable performance of her career which tells about her longevity in cricket and her dedication to the cause of enriching women’s cricket with gem like performances.

Ismail’s world cup journey started from 2009 when the 20 years old bowled her first spell for Proteas women in an ODI World Cup.

Since then, she took part in 8 T20I World Cup, with her final appearance coming in the final of 2023 women’s T20 world cup final against Australia which South Africa lost unfortunately.

The 34 years old Shabnim Ismail played 127 ODI is 113 T20IS and a single test match in a 16 years long career for Proteas Women and gave as many match winning performance.

For years, Ismail ruled as the fastest bowler in the women’s cricket. In total, she collected 317 international wickets for her national side. Also, she was the joint highest wicket taker in a calender year in ODIs in 2022.

She took 37 wickets in 2022 ODIs international cricket schedule, 14 wickets of these came in Women’s ODI World Cup 2022 which was held in New Zealand.

In her retirement note, Ismail wrote:

“After 16 years proudly representing my country, I have come to the difficult decision to retire from international cricket and move on to the next chapter of my life.”

“As any athlete knows, training and competing at your best requires much sacrifice and dedication, and I now find myself wanting to spend more time with my family, particularly my siblings and parents as they get older.

“As I look back on my international career, I am so grateful for all the opportunities and experiences I have had.”

“I have loved being able to compete at the highest level and I am so proud of being able to be part of a wonderful group of players who have led the way for women in cricket. The memories I have will stay with me forever,” Ismail said.

As the cricketing world bids adieu to her cricket journey, she will always remain an inspiring figure who was incredibly passionate about her game, fiercely fast and a definite record breaker.

In 2018, Ismail gave a match winning performance against India where she took 5 wickets for 30 runs. Her match winning performance was much needed to keep South Africa alive in the five game ODI series.