JOHANNESBURG – No one uttered a word in the Proteas’ dressing room at Bristol County Grounds. For the squad of female cricketers, there was only despair.
“It was really emotional,” fast bowler Shabnim Ismail disclosed. “No one really spoke. It was dead silent in the dressing room for a long while. “We were all just devastated.”
Ismail was speaking after her team’s devastating defeat at the hands of England at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup on Tuesday.
The English defeated South Africa by a narrow two-wicket margin on Tuesday to secure their final spot, reaching the target of 219 set for them by the South Africans with just two balls to spare.
“It was really tough to get back into the right frame of mind after such a heartbreaking defeat,” said the 28-year-old Ismail.
Once she and her teammates had arrived back at the team’s hotel, they were given an hour to freshen up and gather their thoughts.
“We then got back together as a team, we spoke about all the positives we had experienced in the tournament. We didn’t focus on any of the negatives, just the positives that would give us the drive and hunger to want to go to the next World Cup.”
Ismail, who has been described as an “aggressive” fast bowler, struggled to get over the semi-final defeat, having been handed the task of bowling the final over. She had to defend three runs.
“I wasn’t nervous and didn’t feel under pressure. I thrive under pressure so I had no problem bowling the final over. I knew I had it in me to defend those three runs. I bowled three really good balls.
“But the fourth ball was slightly wide and I got punished for that. One ball made the difference between winning and losing.”
The Proteas, under the captaincy of Dane van Niekerk, had come in to the semi-final on the back of some fine form. Ismail and her teammates were confident that they could make history by reaching their first final.
“We never really battled against any team we played in the World Cup. We had improved so much as a team over the last few years that we should have taken any team in the tournament.
“If we had put up a total of around 230 against England we would have won the game. It was very small margins. We were always in the game.”
She remains tremendously proud of her team.
“I think the team performance went well from the beginning to the end of the tournament.
“There were some ups and downs but the way we finished was really great even though we couldn’t get over that final hurdle.”
Ismail was especially thrilled for the team’s youngsters, who stepped up to the plate when it mattered.
“I think as the youngsters grew into the team they played an important role. It wasn’t easy for youngsters like Raisibe (Ntozakhe) and Nadine (de Klerk). They way they stepped up was amazing.”
The highlight of the tournament was the team’s growth, she said.
“The biggest thing for me and for my teammates is that we grew together as a family during the tournament and we’re going home as a family. Our bond as a family is stronger than ever.”
Ismail said the team would come home, having taken more positives than negatives from their campaign in England.
“We gelled really well as a team, we played good cricket in all three departments and our overall performance at the World Cup was outstanding. The support was also beyond amazing.”
Ismail tipped India to lift the World Cup trophy this afternoon at Lords, when they go head to head with England.
“I would really like India to win the World Cup final. I think they’re one of the teams that really grew a lot with us. In previous World Cups there wasn’t much support for both our teams.
But in the past few years, we’ve grown together.”