Suzannah Wilson Bates (born 16 September 1987) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

cricketer and former captain of national women cricket team. Born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, she plays domestic cricket for the

Otago Sparks The Otago Sparks is the women's cricket representative team for the New Zealand region of Otago and the surrounding area. They play their home games at University Oval, Dunedin. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition ...

, as well as for the White Ferns. She currently holds the highest score and highest batting average in the New Zealand

Women's Twenty20 cricket Women's Twenty20 is the use of the Twenty20 match format in women's cricket. In a Twenty20 match, the two teams bat for a single innings each, of a maximum of 20 over (cricket), overs. The wider rules and playing conditions are usually the same ...

team. She won the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2013. Bates again won ICC Women's ODI and T20I Cricketer of the Year 2016.

Basketball

Bates represented New Zealand in Women's basketball during the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. Suzie played professional basketball for the Christchurch Sirens in the Australian

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(WNBL), starting 24 games between 2007 and 2008, before moving to the Otago Gold Rush in 2009 and the Logan Thunder in 2009/10. Bates joined the Otago Nuggets as an assistant coach for the 2021 New Zealand NBL season.

Cricket

On 8 June 2018, she scored her tenth century in WODIs, with 151 runs against Ireland. In the same match, she also became the leading run-scorer for New Zealand Women in WODIs, passing Debbie Hockley's total of 4,064 runs. On 20 June 2018, during the match against South Africa Women in the 2018 England women's Tri-Nation Series, Bates scored her

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in WT20I cricket. In the same match, she also became the leading run-scorer in the format, passing Charlotte Edwards' total of 2,605 runs. In the sixth match of the tri-series, Bates became the second woman, after

Jenny Gunn Jennifer Louise Gunn (born 9 May 1986) is an English former cricketer who plays as a right-arm medium bowler and right-handed batter. She appeared in 11 Test matches, 144 One Day Internationals and 104 Twenty20 Internationals for England ...

, to play in 100 WT20I matches. In August 2018, she was awarded a central contract by

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, following the tours of

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and

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in the previous months. In September 2018, she stepped down as captain of New Zealand and was replaced by Amy Satterthwaite. In October 2018, she was named in New Zealand's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. Ahead of the tournament, she was named as one of the players to watch. During the tournament, she became the first cricketer, male or female, to score 3,000 runs in Twenty20 International matches. She was the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in the tournament, with 161 runs in four matches. Following the conclusion of the tournament, she was named the standout player in the team by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC). In November 2018, she was named in the

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' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season. In January 2020, she was named in New Zealand's squad for the

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup final, final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Internati ...

in Australia. In September 2020, in the first match against Australia, Bates took her 50th wicket in WT20I cricket. In November 2020, Bates was nominated for the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for women's ODI cricketer of the decade. In February 2022, she was named in New Zealand's team for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

in New Zealand. In April 2022, Bates was named the Super Smash Player of the Year at the annual Otago Cricket Awards. In June 2022, Bates was named in New Zealand's team for the cricket tournament at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

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, England. In September 2024 she was named in the New Zealand squad for the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Bates was named in the New Zealand squad for their ODI tour to India in October 2024.

International centuries

As of the conclusion of the

, Bates held the record for the most Women's ODI centuries by a New Zealander with 12 in total, and was second only to Meg Lanning of Australia overall. She had also scored a single Women's Twenty20 International century. Her highest ODI and international score was her second ODI century, a score of 168 against Pakistan, at

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on 19 March 2009, made during the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup. In October 2013, Bates became the sole holder of the record for the most Women's ODI centuries by a New Zealander, which she had previously shared with Debbie Hockley, when she recorded her fifth century, a score of 110 against the West Indies at Sabina Park, Jamaica.

Awards

* ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year – 2013 * ''Wisden'' Leading Woman Cricketer in the World – 2015 * ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year – 2016 * ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year – 2016

References

External links