South Africa's Hotel California welcomes Shabnim Ismail back

South Africa's teams are becoming cricket's Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Not forever, anyway.

Quinton de Kock returned from 15 months in international cold in October, two months before Dane van Niekerk ended her absence of more than four years. On Tuesday, 37-year-old Shabnim Ismail returned.

"Hi, guess who's back," Ismail said playfully, then laughed, at the start of an audio file CSA released after announcing the squad for the T20 World Cup in England next month.

Ismail walked away from international cricket after the 2023 T20 World Cup, when South Africa reached the final – which they lost to Australia. Her first game back could be South Africa's World Cup opener against the Aussies at Old Trafford on June 13.

Should she be in that XI – it's difficult to see why she wouldn't be – she will have spent three years, three months and 17 days not being an international player. Since her retirement, no one has played more games and bowled more balls than Ismail in major T20 franchise competitions, in India, England, Australia and the Caribbean. No seamer has taken more wickets.

Probably, no one has brought more attitude onto those fields. That's the real value of players like Ismail. The strut, the glare, the epithets. South Africa gets this from Marizanne Kapp, but its edge is dulled if it leaks out at the other end of the pitch. Bringing Ismail back should stop that.

"I believe in myself and Marizanne Kapp," Ismail said. "I don't think that's arrogance. I think it's confidence because we've played over a hundred games together and done well as a bowling pair."

Of Ismail's 240 white-ball internationals, Kapp played in 176 – nearly three-quarters, which was also how many of Ismail's wickets were taken when Kapp was in the side. They were a formidable pair. And they will be again.

What made Ismail change her mind?

"It was a long, hard decision. I always say I have morals and values and I think a lot of people know once I'm done, I'm done.

"But I had nice conversations with family, with Trish Chetty; people who are close to my heart. And then coach Mandla Mashimbyi as well. When the news came out about him waiting for that phone call from Shabnim Ismail, that topped it off.

"We had back and forth conversations, but there was a point where he gave me a call and said, 'Take your time to make the decision. I'm not forcing you to play, but I really need and want you to come back and help us win the World Cup.'

"He also mentioned that we are missing the pace element. Not that I'm going to be the magic stick, but I'm hoping that when we get to the World Cup I can try and make a difference or try and help the youngsters with my skill and my seniority.

"I don't actually think the team needs me. I think they've been doing phenomenally well. I mean, they've been making final after final."

Besides the decider Ismail played in, South Africa reached the 2024 T20 World Cup and last year's ODI World Cup finals. They lost all of them.

"I don't think it's about skill," Ismail said. "For me, it's the mental part of knowing how we are going to overcome that last hurdle. If we win the World Cup and come home really happy, I'll just say happy retirement."

Much credit for Ismail reversing her decision likely belongs to Mashimbyi, who was appointed in November 2024.

"It was a no-brainer to try and get one of the best bowlers in the world playing for South Africa again," Mashimbyi told a press conference on Tuesday. "Whatever happened in the past happened. I came here with a clean slate and I want to achieve great things with this team.

"For that to happen you need to have the best people available. Shabnim is one of them. It was important for me to have a chat with her because we couldn't have a player of her calibre sitting at home and watching us play. We need that X-factor and she has it.

"She's a strong character. She's a fighter. She brings more to the team than skill, and this is probably the addition we need to make sure that we're going to fight all the way."

Welcome to South Africa's Hotel California.