“When I got the job, one of the things was to see why she’s not part of the team,” Mashimbyi said at a press conference in which the squad was announced. “With the time that I had to the ODI World Cup, I didn’t have much time to have those conversations but after that I contacted her. I said that whenever she’s ready, she can give me a call and in the last month or so, those talks took a positive turn.”

After South Africa’s 1-4 defeat in New Zealand in March, where only Ayabonga Khaka demonstrated decent control, Mashimbyi and Ismail spoke again.

“There was a point where he actually gave me a call. He 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,’” Ismail said in a Cricket South Africa distributed interview on Tuesday. “He also mentioned to me that we are missing that one pace element. It’s 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. To be honest, I don’t actually think the team needs me. I think they’ve been doing phenomenally well.”

Without Ismail, South Africa reached the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 ODI World Cup but a trophy has eluded them. Mashimbyi has made it his mission to change that and has recruited from the old guard.

Former captain Dane van Niekerk, who retired in controversial circumstances after she failed a then-mandatory fitness test and was left out of the 2023 T20 World Cup squad, has also reversed her retirement and made a comeback late last year. She has played nine internationals since her return and though she missed the last two series with injury, is also in the T20 World Cup squad.

According to selection convener Clinton du Preez, van Niekerk is “in good shape”.

“She’s been working whilst being off and she’s currently also doing some work at the academy at the HPC (High Performance Centre) which is also good to see. She’s ready and fit and it was a strategic decision to include her. Within our batting lineup, she has something we believe we require from a stability point of view and also the impact she can make with experience in that middle order,” du Preez said at a press conference.

“Whatever happened in the past happened. I came here on a clean slate and I want to achieve great things with this team,” Mashimbyi said. “For that to happen, you need to have the best people available. And Shabnim is one of those. It was important for me to actually go and have a chat with her because we wouldn’t have a player of her calibre sitting at home and watching us play at a World Cup. Looking at the gaps that we had as a team, she fit the bill beautifully.”

That South Africa need to go back to players who have called it a day – and that includes the men’s team and the return of Quinton de Kock – will raise legitimate questions about whether the system contains enough depth. For Mashimbyi, that’s a problem for later and having both van Niekerk and Ismail back means it can be for much later.

“The fact that Shabnim is still available to play actually buys us a bit of time to make sure that we put processes in place to produce the next fast bowler. And not just one,” he said. “We need to have a big pool of them so that we can have that healthy competition. And there’s a couple of players that have got the potential. We just need to put in work with them and make sure that in a year or two, they’re where they need to be in terms of what’s required in international cricket.”

For now, it’s all eyes on Ismail, who may have her own point to prove after not being picked up at the latest Hundred auction, especially given the T20 World Cup is being played in England. Known for her feistiness, all indications are that Ismail still has the heart to play at the highest level and is ready to wear it on her sleeve again.

“I’m always excited and I always have that fire in me to want to do well for the team,” Ismail said. “For us, to win that World Cup is going to take something really spectacular. We’ve done the hard yards throughout now. We’ve made final after final. It’s just that one element. I don’t really think it’s skill; it’s more the mental part of knowing that when we get to the final, how are we going to overcome that one last hurdle? When I go to this World Cup, I hope we can make it right through and win the World Cup and come home really happy. That’s one thing that will actually give me that boost. After that, then I’ll just say happy retirement.”

Does that mean this is her one last hurrah? Mashimbyi is not convinced. “She’s a freelancer at the moment, let’s be honest. She’s playing the leagues,” he said. “We’ll just obviously see her availability and if it all works out, she’ll play for us more.”