South Africa fast bowler Shabnim Ismail created a record during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final against England at The Oval on Thursday. The South African veteran pacer became the first bowler in the history of ICC Women's T20 World Cup to take 50 wickets.
The wicket occurred in Ismail's 38th Women's T20 World Cup. She achieved the milestone with the very first ball of her 4th T20I spell having dismissed England's Amy Jones in her opening over. Jones added just two more before edging a ball to Annerie Dercksen Ismail's record-breaking delivery.
The veteran pacer continued her excellent spell, getting two wickets in her second over. England were now 23/3 as South Africa had made the ideal start to the semi.
Historic milestone for Shabnim Ismail
The 37-year-old sailed into the semi-final requiring just a single wicket to become the first player in Women's T20 World Cup history to reach the 50 wicket mark. And didn't keep waiting for long.
Ismail's tally now stands at 51 wickets more than Miss Schutt of Australia who is ranked second all-time with 48 wickets. Australia's Ellyse Perry is sixth with 44 wickets and England's Anya Shrubsole has 41. South Africa's Marizanne Kapp is ranked fifth, with 39 wickets:
Ismail is 1 of the best international careers etched by south africa, she holds the record for the most wickets in the international cricket for south africa. She has took 131 wickets in 119 Women's T20 Internationals and 191 wickets in 127 Women's One-Day Internationals.
Talking about her milestone wicket, Ismail said it wasn't quite right.
Most wickets in Women’s T20 World Cups
We knew she hits side. Hers wasn't even close to being my best ball but always good to take one of those.
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England come back from a disappointing first innings to reach the final
Although South Africa had got England to 33/3 during the powerplay England showcased resilience with a fantastic 7th wicket stand between Heather Knight the former captain and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Sciver-Brunt hit 75 as England rallied to set a total of 169/5. South Africa could only reply with 129/8, and England won by 40 runs and took their place in the final of the Women's T20 World Cup at Lord's against undefeated Australia. Ismail credited the veteran English middle order for altering the course of the match.
She said :
"If we speak about 33 off 3 we'll always take that powerplay. Then obviously we got Heather Knight and then we got the skipper out there. The way both of them counter punched us the experience showed itself"
When Irshad was asked about her sources of motivation after such a long time, she credited it to those in her circle.
"I certainly think my family and my teammates keep me young and give me what I need to keep moving."
Despite being eliminated in the semifinal by South Africa this was the first time in the history that she scored the opening goal of a World Cup game. This was obviously counted as one of the biggest milestones of that edition not only adding another of the many chapters of her fantastic career.
