New Zealand’s veteran batter Suzie Bates is the only female cricketer to score more than 1,000 runs in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, a feat she achieved during the 2023 edition.
At 37, Bates excels, maintaining her position as the leading run-scorer in the format. The first edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2009, where Bates scored 136 runs in five matches, including a fifty, finishing as New Zealand’s top scorer. In the 2010 World Cup in the West Indies, she added 111 runs in five outings.
Bates captained New Zealand in the 2012/13 World Cup but had a modest tournament, scoring just 62 runs in four matches. She bounced back in the 2014 edition in Bangladesh, amassing 228 runs in five games at an average of 57, and surpassing 500 total runs across World Cup editions.
Bates continued her form in the 2016 tournament in India, scoring 183 runs in five matches, followed by 161 runs in four games during the 2018 edition. Bates reached the 1,000-run milestone in the 2023 T20 World Cup, where she scored 137 runs in four games.
Bates became only the third player, after Virat Kohli and Mahela Jayawardena, to join the elite club of cricketers with over 1,000 runs in T20 World Cup history. With her remarkable consistency and hunger for runs, Bates will be aiming to continue her outstanding run in the upcoming 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup.
