South African fast bowler Shabnim Ismail announced her retirement from international cricket. Ismail stated that she wanted to spend more time with her family as one of the reasons behind this decision. Despite calling it a career in international cricket, she will be playing T20 domestic cricket around the world.
Shabnim Ismail shared a letter confirming her retirement where she spoke about the sacrifices an athlete makes in their career. She then expressed how she wants to spend more time with her family, especially her siblings and parents.
"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," Ismail stated. “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."
Ismail made her international debut against Pakistan in January 2007 in 50-over cricket and has since taken 191 wickets in 127 matches with an economy rate of 3.70. The right-arm pacer has also taken 123 wickets from 113 appearances in T20I cricket which is the fourth-highest overall at a strike rate of 19.30.
She also holds the record of being the joint-most highest-wicket keeper in a single calendar year in Women's ODIs. In 2022, she picked up 37 wickets including 14 during the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. Talking about World Cup cricket, Ismail has played in four 50-over World Cups between 2009-2022 and all eight Women’s T20 World Cups from 2009.
