Bates named captain of ICC’s 2018 ODI team
NEW Zealand’s Suzie Bates has been named captain of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) women’s world oneday team of the year.
Bates is joined in the side by fellow White Ferns allrounder Sophie Devine.
Bates skippered the White Ferns until September, when she gave up the captaincy to focus on playing.
Bates’s appointment as the ODI captain is a recognition of her contribution in inspiring her side to second position in the ICC Women’s Championship after three rounds.
In New Zealand’s seven ODIs in 2018, Bates scored 438 runs with two centuries and a halfcentury. She is ranked seventh in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s Players Rankings for ODI Batters.
‘‘Thank you very much to everyone who voted for the ICC team of the year. To be named captain is just an absolute honour. Obviously, I have been playing for a long time and stepped down from captaincy, but to be named captain of a World XI is pretty special and something I will always remember,’’ Bates said in reaction to the news.
‘‘It would be nice one day if we got together to play as a group and to captain some of the superstars, but once again such a huge honour and congratulations to all the award winners for this year.’’
The 11member women’s ODI side comprises players from seven countries, including two each from England (Tammy Beaumont and Sophie Ecclestone), India (Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav), New Zealand (Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine) and South Africa (Dane van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp), and one player each from Australia (Alyssa Healy), Pakistan (Sana Mir) and the Windies (Deandra Dottin).
Bates has also made the world T20 team, alongside White Ferns and Otago off spinner Leigh Kasperek.
New Zealand men’s captain Kane Williamson ends the year in the world No 2 spot for test batsmen, behind India’s Virat Kohli.
Kohli dropped three points, despite a first innings score of 82 in the third Test in Melbourne, but still enjoys a 34point lead over Williamson.
Kohli, who attained a careerhigh 937 points during the year, which is the highest ever by an India batsman, scored 1322 runs in all. Kohli overtook Steven Smith in August and has now held the top position for 135 days. — RNZ