Suzie Bates will step onto the field in Indore on Monday knowing she is about to do something no woman has done before: play a 350th international for New Zealand. Captain and long-time ally Sophie Devine will mark a 300th appearance on the same day. Fine numbers, yes, yet both insist the real business is two points against South Africa after a first-round defeat to Australia.
‘Yeah, there’s probably a little bit of embarrassment from both of us,’ Bates admitted at the pre-match press conference. ‘We just feel that when we celebrate these milestones, it’s just because we’re getting old… In the morning, I think we’ll just be trying to get on with the cricket.’
Key facts first
• Bates debuted in 2006, Devine in 2007, and between them they have almost 20,000 international runs and 300 wickets.
• Both are multi-sport athletes; Bates even played basketball at the 2008 Olympics.
• New Zealand lost to Australia on 1 October and realistically cannot afford a second early slip in this 50-over World Cup staged across India and Sri Lanka.
Devine’s tournament began with a run-a-ball 112, her ninth ODI century. It still wasn’t enough, the Australian chase underlining why they remain the side to beat. Assistant coach Craig McMillan, however, took obvious comfort from his skipper’s touch.
‘Well, I think the thing about whenever Sophie Devine’s at the crease, the game is never over,’ McMillan said. ‘I think Australia felt that as well because she’s so powerful, can hit boundaries… It was a class, a great way to start the tournament, really.’
Longer look
There is a gentle irony in both players batting away questions about personal landmarks. Over the last decade they have been central to every talking point around the White Ferns – from World Cup finals lost to the push for better professional contracts. Bates, who once captained a semi-pro basketball outfit on the same winter she opened the batting for Otago, could pass 6,000 ODI runs this month. Devine is already the only woman with hundreds in five consecutive T20Is, and remains one of the quickest to 3,000 ODI runs.
The pair have out-lasted five head coaches and a complete overhaul of New Zealand Cricket’s women’s structure. They have also watched – and, in truth, driven – a shift in how young players enter the squad. Central contracts, access to gyms, a proper domestic schedule: all things that simply did not exist when a teenage Bates paid her own way to trials.
‘I just think there’s been so much growth in New Zealand women’s cricket and those younger players coming through,’ Bates said. ‘So, yeah, we’ll be really proud… it’s something [in] ten years’ time when we’re both not playing, we might have a cup of coffee and think how cool it was to do it in Indore in India.’
What comes next
Devine has flagged retirement from the 50-over format after this tournament, though she is expected to stay on for T20Is under a casual playing deal with NZC. Bates, two years older at 38, has not set a formal timetable, but a second World Cup knock-out appearance looks a fair personal target.
For now South Africa loom. Pace, bounce, Marizanne Kapp with the new ball. The White Ferns are not in crisis, though a second loss would leave little room for manoeuvre. As Bates hinted, celebrations are on hold until the final handshake – but there will be plenty to talk about whenever she and Devine finally sit down with that coffee.
