Bates named ICC ODI and T20I Player of the Year

Friday, 16 December 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ESPNcricinfo: New Zealand Women Captain Suzie Bates became the first player to win both the ICC Women’s ODI and T20I Player-of-the-Year awards. Bates had won the women’s ODI Player-of-the-Year award in 2013 but has been named the T20I Player of the Year for the first time.

The ICC took into consideration the 12 months between September 14, 2015 and September 20, 2016 which included the Women’s World T20 in India this year and the Women’s Championship that concluded recently. Bates scored 472 runs in seven ODI innings at an average of 94.40, second behind Trisha Chetty’s tally of 506 runs from 10 innings. Bates also took eight wickets at an economy rate of 3.75 during the period, the second-highest for a New Zealand player after Erin Berningham’s 14 wickets.

In T20Is, Bates topped the run-scorers’ list with 429 runs, that included four half-centuries, at an average of 42.90. Currently in Australia for the Women’s Big Bash League, Bates said: “It was a bit of a surprise to find out that I had won both these awards. It is always nice to be recognised for performances and after a busy year of cricket, I am pleased to have managed some consistency over both formats.

“The awards are always nice but the most important thing for me is to make sure I am performing consistently and helping put the team in a position to win more games.

“For the past one-and-a-half years, our team has been performing very well and lots of different players have stood up and performed under pressure. It is heartening to see that the team is doing very well going into the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 which will be held in England and Wales.”

New Zealand automatically qualified for next year’s World Cup by finishing third in the Women’s Championship under Bates’ captaincy. They won 13 of their 21 matches that counted towards the championship. New Zealand had also reached the semi-finals of the World T20 earlier this year.

Bates was also named in the Women’s Team of the Year 2016, announced by the ICC for the first time, with West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor as the captain. The side was selected by a panel chaired by Clare Connor and took into account performances during the same 12-month period from September 2015 to September 2016.

Women’s Team of the Year (in batting order): Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Rachel Priest (New Zealand) (wk), Smriti Mandhana (India), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) (capt), Meg Lanning (Australia), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Heather Knight (England), Deandra Dottin (West Indies), Sune Luus (South Africa), Anya Shrubsole (England), Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand), Kim Garth (12th) (Ireland)