Though she will not be playing the Women’s T20 Challenge, New Zealand great Suzie Bates will be keeping a keen eye on the tournament that returns after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. The three-team exhibition tournament will be held at the MCA Stadium in Pune from May 23 to 28 and will include 12 foreign players from South Africa, England, West Indies and Australia.
All-rounder Bates had played the first two editions in 2018 and 2019 for the Trailblazers under Smriti Mandhana’s captaincy before being unable to participate in 2020 due to fixture clashes with the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).
“I absolutely loved being a part of the exhibition matches, the last I went to was in Jaipur (2019), and getting to play alongside a lot of Indian players. Because of Covid it, got put on hold for a little bit (2020). All the news is that there will be a full competition next year, something that I would love to take part in when you can have the best Indian players playing alongside the world’s best—there’s nothing better in my opinion,” Bates said from Dubai via a video call.
The 34-year-old was playing in the six-team FairBreak Invitational Tournament, which was broadcast in India on Eurosport, in Dubai where she captained the Falcons to the final before they lost to the Tornadoes.
Bates, who has played 142 Women’s One-Day Internationals (WODI) and 126 Women’s Twenty20 Internationals (WT20I), feels that a full-blown women’s Indian Premier League (IPL)—which will likely see the light of day in 2023—will hand several players opportunity to showcase their talent in front of huge audiences and could prove to be as big as the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia. The Australian T20 league is the benchmark for women’s league cricket in the world.
“It will be the next step for women’s cricket. If we can have these tournaments, the top tier players will obviously get selected but it will give plenty of players lot of opportunities which will help in growing the game,” said Bates, who is one of four batters along with Mithali Raj (7805 runs), England’s Charlotte Edwards (5992) and Stafanie Taylor (5298) of the West Indies to score more than 5000 runs in WODIs with 5045 runs.
“If it (women’s IPL) is done with full teams rather than just 2-3, I can see it being as good as the WBBL, which is an established competition with established teams. Give it a couple of years to get up and running. I don’t think it’s going to change international cricket too much but what it will do is provide plenty of opportunities to play a quality level of cricket where (players from) teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka (can) get picked in those teams which really helps their cricket. The top nations play a lot of cricket, some of the other nations don’t get to play as much.”
Just what Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami are to India, Bates has been for New Zealand cricket, a stalwart having made her international debut in 2006 against India. In the last 16 years, the Dunedin-born player has broken several records—she is currently the highest scorer in WT20Is with 3380 runs and has the second highest number of centuries (12) in WODIs behind Australia’s Meg Lanning (15)—and continues to perform for the national side, having played her fourth 50-over World Cup in March.
Bates feels the decision to retire should be left to Goswami and Raj, who have already stepped away from T20Is.
“When you have two world class players who have paved the way for so many players in India, one is a fast bowler and the other one of the greatest woman batters of all time, it is up to them when they want to hang up their boots. They still contribute a lot to the game. If they have more left in the tank, they should be given that opportunity,” said Bates, a former ICC Women’s ODI and T20I cricketer of the year.
“There are so many talented players coming through. It’s important that Raj and Goswami are still there to guide and give them advice. When they are done, I am sure they will know. In one-day cricket they are still showing that they are two of the best players—Jhulan does a really good job with the ball and Mithali always scores runs. The next 50-over World Cup is still a while away. We’ll see what happens but when they are there, India is a tough side to beat.”
Deriving inspiration from Goswami and Raj and their longevity at the highest level, Bates feels she still has it in her to deliver the goods.
“It has been a long time (I’ve been playing). I have been inspired by the likes of Jhulan and Mithali and how long they have managed to stay on top of their games. I still love playing. I still feel like I have a little bit left in the tank,” said Bates, who was also part of New Zealand’s basketball team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Asked what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind, Bates said: “I just want to be remembered as a really great teammate, someone who gave their all to the game. For me it is about making sure I give back to the game and just go out there, play with a smile on my face and my colours, enjoy it as I do so. I am still competitive and want to play for a little bit longer because there’s lots of exciting things coming up, especially on the New Zealand side.”