Proteas star Ismail taking World Cup final defeat hard: 'It wasn't good enough'

The Proteas women have been celebrated as national heroes in the days following their T20 World Cup final defeat to Australia at Newlands, but for star fast bowler Shabnim Ismail, their performance on Sunday was "not good enough". 

The 34-year-old, who has 241 caps for her country across all formats, was one of the Proteas' key performers at the tournament, especially in their historic semi-final win over England. 

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No Proteas side had ever made a World Cup final before Sunday, and while South Africa were ultimately outplayed against one of the most dominant cricket sides in the history of the game, they have been showered in praise for getting as far as they did. 

Ismail, though, says she holds herself to a higher standard, and that coming so close to a World Cup title without getting the job done was difficult to take. 

"I don't like settling for average," she told News24 this week.

"I love winning tournaments and competing against the best. Australia is the best team at the moment, and I wanted to go out there and show that dog fight in me.

"Losing in the final really hurt me a lot because I've been here for 16 years.

"Making history and getting over the semi-final hurdle is a huge confidence booster and it does put us on a high pedestal, but for me, I feel like we could have had that final and it hurts me a lot.

"There are still youngsters in the team, so for them, they were really happy with what happened and how we made history, but for me, I still feel like it wasn't good enough.

"I want to go to the top, beat the top and then make sure we end on top."

The good news for the Proteas is that Ismail, for now, is not going anywhere.