Ismail made her senior debut for Western Province in October 2005, during the 2005–06 season of South Africa's Women's Provincial League. She took 15 wickets in her debut season, the second-most for Western Province behind Shandre Fritz and Alexis le Breton. This was followed by 21 wickets during the 2007–08 season, which was the sixth-most in the competition. Ismail has played in the Provincial League's final on a number of occasions throughout her career. She switched from Western Province to Gauteng for the 2015–16 season. In September 2019, she was named in the Devnarain XI squad for the inaugural edition of the Women's T20 Super League in South Africa.
In December 2015, several weeks into the inaugural season of Australia's Women's Big Bash League, Ismail signed with the Melbourne Renegades as an overseas marquee player, temporarily replacing Rachel Priest. On debut against the Melbourne Stars, Ismail took 3/10 from four overs in a five-wicket victory. She played in one more game, an eight-run loss to the Stars, before Priest returned to the line-up. Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Ismail signed with the Sydney Thunder for 2019–20 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|05. Despite finishing with a modest total of ten wickets, she was the third-most economical bowler throughout the tournament by conceding 5.88 runs per over. In an article for The Sydney Morning Herald, written by Thunder captainRachael Haynes, the fielding ability of Ismail was praised as one of the top five highlights of the season.
In 2016, for the inaugural season of England's Women's Cricket Super League, Ismail signed with the Yorkshire Diamonds. She was one of the team's three overseas players, along with Australians Alex Blackwell and Beth Mooney, and one of only four South Africans across the competition. Ismail played in all five matches for the Diamonds and took six wickets, behind only Danielle Hazell among her teammates. Her best figures were 2/16 from two overs against the Western Storm, while she also took 2/23 from four overs against the Lancashire Thunder.
International career
Ismail made her international debut for South Africa in January 2007, in a One Day International against Pakistan. Her Test and Twenty20 International debuts came in the same year, against the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively. Ismail was selected in South Africa's squad for the 2009 World Cup in Australia, but took only a single wicket from her three matches. At the 2009 World Twenty20 in England later in the year, she took seven wickets from three games, which was the most for South Africa and the equal third-most overall. At the 2011 World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh, Ismail took 6/10 in one match against the Netherlands, helping bowl the team out for just 36 runs. The performance set a new ODI record for South Africa, and was the equal fourth-best bowling performance across all women's ODIs at the time. She enjoyed more good form at the 2013 World Cup in India, finishing with eleven wickets from seven matches—the most for South Africa and the equal fifth-most overall. Her campaign included figures of 4/41 against Australia, 2/18 against Pakistan, and 2/22 against Sri Lanka. With seven wickets from five games, Ismail was South Africa's equal-leading wicket-taker at the 2014 World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. She took 3/5 from three overs against Ireland, helping to secure the team's first semi-final appearance in the tournament's history. South Africa had less success at the 2016 edition in India, however, managing to win only one match. Ismail also had little success, taking three wickets from her four matches. During a 2017 match against England, she set an unenviable new record for most runs conceded in a Women's Cricket World Cup innings, finishing with figures of 1/89. In March 2018, Ismail was one of fourteen players to be awarded a national contract by Cricket South Africa ahead of the 2018–19 season. In October 2018, she was named in South Africa's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 in the West Indies. She was the joint-leading wicket-taker for South Africa in the tournament, with six scalps in four matches. Following the competition's conclusion, the International Cricket Council highlighted her as the team's standout player. In January 2020, Ismail was named in South Africa's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. She went on take five wickets in four matches, including 3/8 from 3.1 overs against Thailand. Her team was knocked out of the tournament via a semi-final defeat to the host nation. On 23 July 2020, Ismail was named in South Africa's 24-woman squad to begin training in Pretoria, ahead of their tour to England.
Personal life
Ismail was born in Cape Town. She began playing cricket at school, and initially played in a mixed-gender team, as her school had no separate team for girls. Ismail is a practising Muslim, and is the only Muslim woman to have played international cricket for South Africa., she was studying to become a mechanical engineer.
