Suzie Bates, the captain of the New Zealand Women cricket team, recently became the first player to win both the ICC Women’s ODI and the T20I player of the year awards announced on Wednesday.
In w2013, she had been named won the women’s ODI player of the year award. However, this would be the very first time she’s being named the T20I player of the year
In making their choice for the selection, the ICC took into consideration, the 12 months period between September 14, 2015 and September 20, 2016, which saw the Women’s World T20 being played in India this year, with the Women’s Championship just recently concluded.
In seven ODI innings, Bate scored 472 runs, which placed her at an average of 94.40, at the second position, just behind the 506 runs from 10 innings scored by Trisha Chetty.
The period also saw Bates with eight wickets during the period at an economy rate of 3.75 which was the second-highest for a New Zealand player, after that of Erin Berningham, at 14 wickets.
And in the T20Is, Bates had put forward a total of 429 runs to top the run-scorers list, one that included four half-centuries, at an average of 42.90.
Bates, who is currently in Australia for the Women’s Big Bash League, had said when she heard about her winnings,
“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.”