Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Suzie Bates has scored 14 centuries and taken 145 wickets across ODIs and T20Is
New Zealand all-rounder Suzie Bates will retire from international cricket after this year's Women's T20 World Cup, ending an illustrious 20-year career on the world stage.
The 38-year-old will be part of the White Ferns' 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup taking place from 12 June to 5 July in England, where they will also play three ODIs and T20Is against the hosts next month.
A right-handed opening batter, Bates is the all-time leading run-scorer in women's Twenty20 internationals with 4,717 runs and fourth on the ODI charts, while she has also claimed 145 wickets and a record number of catches.
"When I look back on the past 20-plus years, I can't quite believe how quickly the time has gone," said Bates, who also won the 2024 T20 World Cup.
"I'm immensely proud to have worn the fern so many times, and I've been filled with enormous purpose and joy in striving each day to be a better person, team-mate, cricketer, and athlete for this team.
"I have one final mission: to head to the UK - a place that holds so many special memories for me - and win another World Cup."
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Having made her New Zealand debut against India in 2006, she was named captain in 2011 and led them in 151 matches during a seven-year stint.
Current White Ferns captain Melie Kerr described Bates as her "role model" and "one of the greatest cricketers of all time".
Kerr added: "She's paved the way for a long time in women's cricket, and what she's done for cricket, the women's game, and sport in New Zealand, she should be very proud of."
The all-rounder was named as cricket bible Wisden's leading female player in the world in 2015 and has twice been the International Cricket Council's women's ODI cricketer of the year - in 2013 and 2016.
Bates, who was player of the tournament at the 2013 World Cup in India, also represented New Zealand in basketball, including at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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