Ismail enjoying bowling in India
THE South African women’s cricket team lost their recent T20 international series 3-1 against India in the sub-continent.
However, Shabnim Ismail, pictured, proved why she is one of the best fast bowlers in international women’s cricket with some tidy displays throughout the series.
Ismail was one of the star performers for South Africa with seven wickets in the four matches. She also managed impressive figures of 3/11 during the Proteas warm-up game against the Indian Board President’s Women XI.
Reflecting on her performances, the 31-year-old said: “As an opening bowler, I felt that there was a lot in it.
“There was moisture and it was coming nicely onto the bat. I enjoyed it a lot and as you can see from my spells, I used a lot of variations.”
The sub-continent, and India in particular, is a region which is historically known for causing trouble to South African seam bowlers. Ismail, however, has enjoyed bowling there.
“I enjoyed bowling in India more this time around. Normally people say the wicket is low and slow and brings more spin for the spinners which did happen. For me as a seam bowler, the wicket came up nicely and I used bouncers and my variation. It was better this time to bowl in India than in South Africa.”
The Proteas will be hoping that the lessons which they learnt from the series defeat can help them excel during the One Day Series which starts in Vadodara today.
“I don’t think that this should break our confidence seeing that we are looking at our long-term goal, which is the T20 World Cup next year. The team is still positive and we know what we are capable of doing. We have not yet played our best cricket.”
The Proteas welcome back veteran wicket-keeper batter Trisha Chetty for the One Day International Series. Chetty returns to the national team fold after an absence of more than a year due to injury.
FIXTURES
1st ODI SA Women v India Women at Vadodara, TODAY (Live from 5.20am on SuperSport 2). 2nd ODI FRIDAY, October 11, at Vadodara (Live from 5.20am on SuperSport 10). 3rd ODI MONDAY, October 14 at Vadodara (Live from 5.20am on SuperSport 5).