Joining an elite band of women to score 1000 runs in World Cup cricket, Suzie Bates has led the White Ferns to victory in an unforgettable homecoming. Her first captain tells Suzanne McFadden why it was really no surprise.
Sarah Tsukigawa remembers playing cricket alongside a teenage Suzie Bates on Dunedin’s University Oval, and knowing she was something special.
Not only was she always happy-go-lucky - smiling, dancing and leading the team in Singstar sessions on mornings before games - Bates was always incredibly driven.
“Sure, people can see she’s super talented, but the work that she puts in year after year after year is phenomenal,” says Tsukigawa, who made her debut for the White Ferns at the same time as Bates, against India in 2006. They even played in the final of the 2009 World Cup together.
“She still has this drive to keep going, even after injury setbacks." When Bates injured her shoulder 18 months ago, needing surgery, she feared her chances of playing in a World Cup at home were dashed. "And she’s so inspiring in how she’s always trying to improve her game.”
Tsukigawa, who played 42 ODIs for New Zealand, wanted to be back at the University Oval yesterday to see Bates finally get to play her first international (of 263 games for her country) on their home ground.
But the rain, which delayed the start of the White Ferns’ second game of the World Cup against Bangladesh, kept teacher Tsukigawa and her two-year-old daughter at home.
It didn’t matter. Bates still thought Tsukigawa was in the small crowd, and after striking her 1000th run in World Cup cricket – a rare milestone only six women have ever achieved in the game – Bates paid tribute to her old team-mate through the age groups in Otago and New Zealand sides.
“Playing in Dunedin, I’ve been really fortunate with the people I’ve had around me. Sarah Tsukigawa was my first ever captain and she was a real inspiration to me, around how to lead from the front. She’s someone who was pretty special,” Bates said after the game.
Bates certainly led from the front yesterday, blasting 79 not out in the gloom and drizzle to ensure New Zealand’s crucial nine-wicket victory, and give the White Ferns their first two points of the tournament. Had it been a wash-out, it would certainly have dampened the home side’s chances of making the semifinals.
But the rain finally eased off mid-afternoon, four hours after the original start time, to at least allow the teams a 27-over contest in their first ever ODI encounter.
When Bates woke up yesterday morning, opened the curtains and saw the rain falling in her hometown, and wanted to “crawl back under the covers until the sun came out”.
Her mood wasn’t helped, either, when her parents, Robin and Jo, and her sister Olivia kept messaging her about the terrible weather.
You see, the last time Bates was to play for New Zealand in Dunedin (against South Africa a couple of years ago), it rained all day.
“A few girls in the team give her a hard time about it always raining when they come to Dunedin, so they would have been ‘Oh, here we go again’,” Tsukigawa laughs.
“But family is everything to Suzie so to finally play in Dunedin, on the ground she knows so well, it was really fitting to see her score those runs there today. It’s in those important moments, your big players stand up and guide you.
“She’s really humble, too. So now she’ll put her head down and work even harder.”
Playing in her fourth World Cup, Bates became only the second New Zealand woman to score 1000 runs in World Cup competition, after the equally legendary Debbie Hockley (whose record of 1501 runs remains unbeaten by any female cricketer). Now president of NZ Cricket, Hockley admitted to getting a little teary on the ICC commentary team when Bates reached her own milestone.
“Debbie Hockley is an absolute legend and to join her is pretty special,” said Bates, who admitted to having no idea she was anywhere near 1000 runs when she headed out to open the New Zealand run chase of 141. “[Hockley] was a huge inspiration to all of us growing up and being a part of that 2000 winning World Cup (side).”
Bates and her White Ferns captain Sophie Devine began the run chase carefully against Bangladesh’s spin attack. “But as soon as I faced that first ball, it just felt like home, and I knew it was a good wicket as it has been all season,” Bates said.
Devine was disappointed she didn’t get a chance to “cash in” on a brilliant batting wicket, beaten by Salma Khatun when she was on 14. With the White Ferns losing their first wicket at 36, the game hung in the balance.
But Melie Kerr continued her outstanding season with the bat, picking gaps in the Bangladesh field with precision, and running strongly between the wickets as the damp outfield slowed down the ball.
Together Kerr and Bates built an unbroken partnership of 108 off 83 balls to easily reach their target; Kerr ending the game with a flourish - a boundary to finish up 47 not out.
To Bangladesh’s credit, they played a confident, attacking game, particularly starting their innings with the bat. Although openers Shamima Sultana and Fargana Hoque Pinky were almost reluctant to leave the dressing rooms and approach the crease, they were far from reticent once they got to it, whacking around New Zealand’s pace bowlers, albeit in unorthodox fashion, to be 31 after three overs.
Devine then introduced spin to her attack, with Kerr quietening them down and Frankie Mackay (overlooked for the opening game loss to the West Indies) making the breakthrough when Shamima skied a sweep, caught by a sliding Lea Tahuhu, to end her strong knock of 33.
Mackay would be in the action again, featuring in two clever run-outs – which has become such a feature of her game.
But Devine pulled the New Zealand bowler of the day from her back pocket – with Amy Satterthwaite taking 3-25 off five overs. In her opening over, Satterthwaite took a wicket on her first and last balls, and later played her role in running out Jahanara Alam from Amelia Kerr’s outfield throw.
“We know how experienced Amy is and it’s certainly nice to have that in my back pocket to be able to call on her with her skills. I think that’s the great thing about this team – we’ve got a lot of variety in our side,” Devine said.
Pinky reached a milestone with her innings of 52, becoming the first Bangladesh player to score a half century at a World Cup. Her captain, Niger Sultana Joty, praised her team for what they were able to achieve in weather quite foreign to them.
“I’ve never played in these kinds of conditions. That rain out there, our bowlers couldn’t grip the ball properly and we couldn’t see the ball properly in the ground, so I think it was really tough,” she said. “But there is a lot of learning from here we want to take.”
Devine was certainly a happier captain than three days' earlier.
“I don’t think we were ever off track,” she said. “I know we lost the first game but I think there were so many positives to take out of that. And we know that this competition is going to be so tight so we certainly are happy that we managed to get a game on here today.
“But we move on now… we take on India; we know obviously we’ve got a bit of history with them over the last month or so, so that’s going to be another cracker of a game.”
* New Zealand's next game against India is on Thursday at Seddon Park, Hamilton, starting at 2pm.
