WBBL 2020: Shabnim Ismail joins Rachael Haynes, Hannah Darlington, Phoebe Litchfield at Sydney Thunder
She is fast, she is lethal and the good news for Sydney Thunder is their latest signing feels “on top of her game” ahead of the WBBL/06 season.
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Sydney Thunder have managed to secure the signature of lethal South African international Shabnim Ismail for the second season ahead of the Rebel Women’s Big Bash League season.
Thunder finished outside the top four of the competition won by defending champions Brisbane Heat last season and are stockpiling the talent to move up the ladder in WNBL/06.
Ismail joins the likes of Rachael Haynes, Hannah Darlington and Phoebe Litchfield at the club after impressing last season by taking 10 wickets at an economy of 5.88.
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She adds experience to a unit missing Alex Blackwell and Rene Farrell who both retired at the end of last season.
“We started last season really strongly and then obviously we slacked a bit but I think the experience and the way we went about playing our game was really good,” said the 31-year-old, one of the fastest female bowlers in the world and the recently named Cricket South Africa Women’s T20 International Cricketer of the Year,
“I thoroughly enjoyed it and hopefully we can get some more success this year.”
Sydney Thunder coach Trevor Griffin said Ismail made a big impact last season for the club.
“She was our most economical bowler and her pace caused a lot of trouble for opposition batters,” he said.
“She was a real competitor in the field too – some of the fielding that she did was just at another level.
“She’s the world’s third-ranked T20 bowler but one thing that I noticed about Shabnim last year is that she still wants to learn and she’s constantly looking at ways to get better.
For the second year the WBBL will run as a stand-alone competition with 59 games running across October and November.
Thunder’s first game is against the Scorchers in Perth on October 17.
Sydney Thunder contracted players: Rachael Haynes (C), Sam Bates, Hannah Darlington, Saskia Horley, Shabnim Ismail, Phoebe Litchfield, Rachel Trenaman, Tahlia Wilson.