Express News Service
CAPE TOWN: Shabnim Ismail is the fastest bowler in the world. But that is not all, she is the second-highest wicket-taker in ODIs and T20Is (behind Jhulan Goswami and Ellyse Perry, respectively). And she has been breathing fire in the 2023 T20 World Cup so far for South Africa. In a free-wheeling chat last year with this daily, the 34-year-old took a deep dive to talk about being the quickest in the world, the technicalities of her bowling and more…
On 15 years as a fast bowler
Obviously, there’s been bumps along the along the road, but I think the way I’ve been playing my peak cricket for the past maybe four or five years. I’ve been just peaking and I always say at the age of 33 (at the time of the chat), a lot of people think, ‘oh, she’s close to 35, etc,’ but for me, I feel my game is just actually peaking now and I’m willing to obviously put in the hard yards, still look after my body on and off the field.
On not getting any slower at 34
A lot of people ask that. Actually one of the England trainers in the gym (during the England tour last year) asked me how do you bowl so quick and why does your back leg not even actually land on the ground? And I always tell him, ‘I wish, I knew and I wish I could tell everybody how to bowl fast.’ Since I was young, I always wanted to be the quickest bowler. But I think now, it comes more with consistency. It comes more with obviously taking care of your body.
Is there any specific work involved in it, like the work you put in to be quicker?
Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything, I think it’s the small things. Obviously, I got this mentality of, ‘I wanna be quick.’ So, that’s one thing that I do work on in the nets. I believe that I am world-class, my stats don’t lie. And, obviously for me to go out there and just portray my skill out there in the middle and when I do go into training sessions, I always tell the coach sometimes my rhythm isn’t well.
On how she generates pace
So, my run up is about 22 yards and for me, it’s just, I like to take a good couple of strides in at the last five feet should I say? That’s basically where I explode, where I use all my energy. So, I don’t like obviously wasting my energy on my run up because I know at the last five metres of my crease, I know that that is where everything is in action where I put everything into perspective where I explode. I hit the crease nice and hard and I know from there, just to follow through with that smooth action.
On the ego of a fast bowler
I always say a fast bowler, you need to have a bit of attitude, you need to have a bit of aggression because if you don’t have that, I don’t believe that you’re a fast bowler (laughs). Once I walk over that boundary line, I just basically change into beast mode. I don’t care what the total is. I just know what’s my job and I obviously want to go out there and deliver for the team.
Tuesday’s result: Bangladesh 107/7 in 20 ovs (Nigar 57; Georgia 3/20) lost to Australia 111/2 in 18.2 ovs (Lanning 48 n.o).
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