Shabnim Ismail retires: Proteas speedster brings curtains down on glittering career

Veteran South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail brought the curtains down on a glittering career on Wednesday by announcing her retirement from the international game.

Ismail, considered among the quickest in the women’s game, last played for South Africa in the T20 World Cup earlier this year in which the spirited Sune Luus-led Proteas made it all the way to the final, where they ended up losing against defending champions Australia. The pacer retires with 127 ODIs and 113 T20Is under her belt besides a solitary Test appearance against Netherlands in 2007. She retires with more than 300 international wickets to her credit, 191 of which have come in ODIs alone.

In a statement shared by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on social media, Ismail said she was looking forward to spending more time with her family after a 16-year run with the Proteas.

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“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. They have always been my biggest support and I want to be able to be there for them in the way they have been there for me over the past 16 years,” Ismail said in the statement.

Ismail additionally expressed gratitude at being able to represent the ‘Rainbow Nation’ for as long as she did, spending time in the locker room and on the field with a “wonderful group of players”.

“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 added in the statement.

Ismail collected eight wickets in six outings in the T20 World Cup earlier this year at an average of 16.12, with three of those wickets coming in a match-winning haul of 3/27 against England in the semi-final in Cape Town. Before that, she had starred in South Africa’s massive victory over New Zealand with a performance of 3-1-7-1.

The Proteas, however, would go down fighting against Australia in the final, suffering a 19-run loss at the Newlands after being set 157 to win. Ismail signed off with figures of 2/26 from four in her final international appearance, dismissing Ellyse Perry and Georgia Wareham.

While South Africa reached a World Cup final for the first time either in men’s or women’s cricket, taking both the ODI and T20 World Cups into account, Australia ended up pulling off a hat-trick of World Cup titles.

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