How MI's Shabnim Ismail became "The Demon"
CS Chiwanza explores the technique and drills that helped the 5 '4 Shabnim Ismail become the South African “Demon” who terrorises batters across the world.
Shabnim Ismail is 5’4. Shabnim Ismail is 36. And yet, Shabnim Ismail is still the fastest pacer in the world.
This season in the WPL, the MI pacer holds the record for the fastest average pace in the powerplay at 116 kph. The next highest, RCB’s Ellyse Perry & DC’s Annabel Sutherland, bowl at an average of closer to 111 kph.
According to Hawkeye, Shabnim Ismail has the 3 fastest deliveries at the ICC Women's ODI and T20 World Cups. She also boasts the fastest delivery in the WPL (132.1 kph - the fastest in all Women’s cricket), and the 2nd and 3rd fastest balls in the history of the WBBL.
But, it wasn’t always this easy for the “Demon” from Cape Town.
Boland Park, Paarl, South Africa. October 2009. Ismail wasn’t crying, but she had tears in her eyes. It wasn’t easy to break her, but West Indies’ Deandra Dottin had just flayed her for 20 runs in a single over. South Africa only had 95 to defend on the night.
South Africa lost, and Ismail blamed herself.
Ismail is called the “Demon” for a reason. She is relentless in her quest to make life uncomfortable for batters. She does it so well that she inspires a holy fear in anyone facing her.
Ismail grew up competing against Beuran Hendricks, Vernon Philander, and Yaseen Vallie, who all had successful professional careers. It was a competitive and unforgiving environment. The boys attacked her deliveries and ragged her mercilessly. Instead of killing her love for cricket, it drove her to run in harder and bowl faster.
She adored Andre Nel, the South African pacer that made a name for himself during the 2007 World Cup. She was inspired by his passion, aggression, and presence, and spent hours teaching herself how to bowl like him.
Nel, who later became a friend, told Ismail that consistently bowling fast was the main factor that would help her stand out. So, each time Dottin launched one of her deliveries to the boundary or over the ropes, Ismail responded with an even faster delivery. She only knew one way.
After the match, Ismail stood before former Proteas international and renowned Boland bowling coach Henry Williams. She was so distraught, she had forgotten to remove her spikes after she came off the field and into the indoor center.
"Max Jordaan, who was the team manager, brought her to me immediately after the match and asked if I could help her with her bowling," Williams recalled.
Williams’ first question to Ismail was whether she thought it was a good idea to bowl with spikes in the indoor centre. Ismail giggled nervously in response, and the ice had been broken.
"We still laugh about [it] today. I wanted to take her mind [off] the game she had just played, and make her feel comfortable," Williams shared.
Two hours later, Ismail and Williams were packing away cones, stumps, and balls. It was the beginning of a 15 year relationship that would help propel Ismail to top of the global speed charts.
The neighbourhood boys resented her pace
Before Ismail, there was Fred Spofforth, Australia’s first great fast bowler. He was the first to answer to the moniker, The Demon. There are different accounts of how Spofforth earned the sobriquet.
Some claim he bestowed it upon himself after dismissing WG Grace, the original God of Cricket, as he led Australia to a nine-wicket win over England in 1878.
Others suggest that it came from batters and writers, who said that looking into his eyes was like looking into death itself. All agree, though, that his bowling was so ferocious that it was a one-way ticket to hell.
Unlike Spofforth, who worked on his bowling as an adult, Ismail had always been brisk. Young boys in her neighbourhood resented her because she was quicker and consistently outperformed them. Word of her pace spread as fast as her bowling, and she was picked for the Western Province senior women’s team aged 16 on reputation.
It was during her first season with Western Province that she earned the nickname. Ismail inspired a fear of hell in batters with her speed. She never understood why or how she could generate such pace. She asked her coach, but he couldn't help.
You’d probably need to go back two generations to find the answer, back to Ismail’s grandfather. He wasn’t a seamer of renown; however, he knew enough about cricket to teach her the fundamentals of bowling. The cornerstone of his teaching was to encourage her to bowl as fast as she could.
Ismail’s action was a mix of what her grandfather taught her, what she imbibed from Andre Nel, and what she picked up from Dale Steyn. Similarly to Nel, Ismail admired Steyn's passion and aggression, so she modelled her action after the Proteas star. Without knowing it, Ismail set herself on course to a good bowling technique.
An accidentally accurate amateur technique
Ismail is a product of the amateur era. Players made international debuts with mixed homespun actions because there weren’t specialised bowling coaches for Women’s teams at any level. But, Ismail’s own homespun technique gave her an advantage.
“Most of [the Women’s players] arrived with bowling actions that required a lot of work, but not Shabnim. She has always had a good action," Vincent Barnes, the CSA High Performance Centre Bowling Lead at the time of Ismail’s debut, shared.
Ismail stretched her bowling and non-bowling hands in opposite directions as much as possible during her delivery stride. She also landed with a braced front foot. When combined, the two actions assisted in generating a hip drive (thus creating a catapult effect) as the bowler releases the ball.
“A bent front leg absorbs energy and reduces the momentum of the delivery, while a braced one helps in getting more pace. Think of it as the base of a door frame, it has to hold in place and be strong when you shut the door on it. Spinners bowl over their front foot and fast bowlers bowl against it," Ian Pont, a renowned fast-bowling coach, explained.
One of the other things Barnes noted from Ismail's early days was her strong core. The veteran coach attributed it to her footballing background. At one point, Ismail entertained ideas of a career as a footballer. This, plus her serviceable technique, gave her a faster start compared to her peers.
Ismail finally had answers on why she was so fast. Now, she had to learn to control it.
Controlling her aggression
Ismail had the ingredients: solid action, pace, and huge dollops of aggression. Henry Williams needed to help her learn how to create a great meal. To help her use her pace better, and to become more consistent.
"I hadn't seen anyone with such aggression. But she didn't have control of it. We needed to get to a point where she controlled it from the inside," Williams explained.
One of the first things they did in their early sessions was to make sure that her alignment was perfect. According to Barnes, how your front foot lands determines how your upper body reacts and how much energy you can put into a delivery. The checkpoints were: to have the front toe pointing to the target, a straight arm and keeping your head straight.
"Her good feet alignment from back foot to front foot impact creates room for the back hip to drive towards the target before ball release," Piet Botha, South Africa Men's bowling coach, explained.
Building that all-important rhythmic run-up
During her Western Province years, Ismail ran in quickly and bowled fast. Williams helped her dispense of the bustling approach for a more rhythmic one.
"Running in quickly doesn't mean you will bowl fast. Yes, you need momentum, but you also need rhythm for you to release the ball with everything in you," Williams shared.
Instead of running in to bowl, Ismail walked into her delivery stride and shadow-bowled. They repeated that movement until she developed a feel of the right actions.
A rhythmic approach is much better because it assists in the generation of momentum through the body and into the delivery. Bowlers who do not have it are prone to injury because they force their bodies, particularly their shoulders, to produce pace.
"She has a good attacking run-up. Couple that with her ability to block the bottom half of her body with a braced front leg and you have an outstanding bowler," Botha said.
According to Botha, the run up-braced leg combination causes the upper body to drive towards the target first before the bowling arm starts rotating. This action causes a big lag of the bowling arm, causing good arm speed. It is this arm speed that helps her to bowl at a good pace.
The combo of a braced leg and a better run-up has helped Ismail get faster and become more controlled. Credit: Ismail’s Instagram.
The drills that improved Ismail’s endurance
Developing endurance is a big thing for Williams. He has a drill where Ismail bowls up to four consecutive overs. She hardly has time to stand still throughout. She delivers the ball, runs to retrieve it, and throws it to Williams, who then chucks it in her direction when she is close to her mark. Most times it's not directly at her, so she chases after it, before running to her mark. They did three sets.
"Sometimes the mind gets muddled when you're tired. But then again, that is also when you need to execute your skills. So, fatigue must not be a barrier," Williams explained.
Having a good technique is the start, as far as Williams is concerned. Bowlers need a still upper body and a quiet head to excel. No traffic, as he calls it.
"The quieter you are, the more dangerous you are going to be," Williams shared.
In one of his drills, Williams placed three beacons - red, blue, and yellow - close to the stumps. Each market where Ismail had to land the delivery. Williams waited until Ismail was about to get into her delivery stride before shouting a colour.
"It is difficult to execute in the beginning. But, after a while, you learn to keep your eyes on the target and you develop the ability to hit it even if it's moved at the last minute," he explained.
A regular routine to learn irregular variations
On 13 February 2024, Williams received a text from Ismail. She had nailed a yorker at high pace in an intra-squad match as part of the Mumbai Indians Women's team's 2025 WPL preparations. It was one of the deliveries Ismail and Williams had worked on the previous December.
Today, coach and student communicate via WhatsApp throughout the year. Motivational messages, updates on how things are going, idle chit chat, advice, and thousands of questions and answers. They meet when they are both free. And, they work together at Boland Park for most of December.
They have done this for 14 years, and it has helped Ismail add more deliveries to her armoury. She is no longer limited to just three variations: her regular ball, her fastest one and a slower-ball.
The message Ismail sent had the same excited tone as when she first mastered late swing. The pacer had always been able to swing the ball at pace. However, it was an early swing that left her deliveries vulnerable to booming drives or cuts.
“Shabnim is one of those people who learns things quickly, but late swing took her longer to nail. She was really happy when she consistently got it right,” Williams said.
However, her greatest accomplishment has been becoming one of the fastest pacers in women's cricket. She doesn't deliver rockets occasionally, she does it consistently. Ismail has sent down 457 deliveries that clock 120 kph or higher, the most by a female cricketer. She is also the bowler with the fastest delivery in her locker, and regularly hovers in the upper 120s often.1
“Shabnim is a brilliant athlete. We still do the same drills we did 10 years ago, and she brings the same energy,” Williams said.
When she was a teenager, the sight of Ismail at the top of her mark sent shivers down the spines of batters. They were terrified of the pace she bowled at. Nothing has changed, even at 36.
The Demon remains as fast as ever.
All numbers are accurate to March 1, 2025.
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