Suzie Bates made ODI debut in March 2006 against India
Sophie Devine's first international match was in October 2006 against Australia
Marizanne Kapp sent back Bates for golden duck in ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 match
New Zealand opener Suzie Bates and captain Sophie Devine reached fresh milestones during their team's ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 match against South Africa at Holkar Stadium, Indore, on Monday (October 6).
Bates became the first-ever woman cricketer to appear in 350 international games, while Devine is playing her 300th match. The White Ferns skipper is the seventh woman to get to the landmark after Bates, Harmanpreet Kaur (342), Ellyse Perry (341), Mithali Raj (333), Charlotte Edwards (309), and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (300).
The 38-year-old Bates made her one-day international debut on March 4, 2006, taking on India at the age of 19, while Devine entered the international arena a few months later, on October 22, against Australia, all of 17.
The veteran duo has been the rock of New Zealand women's cricket for many a year. Apart from piling on the runs, the two all-rounders have done well with the ball too.
Bates came into the match as the third-highest run-getter in women’s ODIs, with 5896 runs in 172 matches to her name at an average of 39.57. The right-hander has notched up 13 hundreds and 37 half-centuries, along with 81 wickets.
In T20 internationals, she has played 177 games, notching up 4716 runs at an average of 29.11, including one hundred, and has scalped 60 wickets. Though she has plied her trade for almost two decades in international cricket, with appearances in 14 World Cups across formats, Bates is yet to play a Test match.
As for the 36-year-old Devine, she entered the match with 4102 ODI runs at an average of 32.29, including nine hundreds and 16 fifties. In T20Is, she has registered 3431 runs in 146 matches at 28.12, with one ton to her name. She has picked up 107 wickets in ODIs and 119 in T20Is. Like Bates, she is yet to feature in a Test.
New Zealand Women Vs South Africa Women: First-Ball Wicket
Bates made an inauspicious start to her landmark 350th international game, as South Africa's Marizanne Kapp trapped her in front for an LBW off the very first ball. This marked only the second time in the tournament's history that such an event had occurred.
After Devine won the toss and opted to bat first, the White Ferns were jolted straight away as Bates got beaten by a good-length delivery. The Dunedin cricketer reviewed the decision, but ball-tracking showed it hitting the leg stump.
The first incidence of a batter getting out off the first ball of a Women's ODI World Cup match was during the 2022 edition in Christchurch: England's Katherine Sciver-Brunt had Pakistan's Nahida Khan caught by Heather Knight for a golden duck.
Pakistan were eventually dismissed for 105 all out, and England cantered to a nine-wicket win with 184 balls to spare. Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who scored 76 off 68 balls, was named the Player of the Match.
