Suzie Bates to retire from international cricket after Women’s T20 World Cup in England

Suzie Bates has announced she will retire from international cricket after the Women’s T20 World Cup in England this June, bringing the curtain down on a 20-year career that reshaped women’s cricket in New Zealand and around the world.

The 38-year-old batter, widely regarded as the greatest player ever to represent the White Ferns, confirmed she will play on through the tournament before calling time on an international career that began in 2006. She is going out on her own terms, and with unfinished business in mind.

Bates said she had one final mission. “To head to the UK — a place that holds so many special memories for me — and win another World Cup,” she said.

It is a fitting ambition for a player who has never been content with anything less than the highest standard. Bates was part of the White Ferns squad that claimed the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2024, contributing 150 runs across six matches. A second title on English soil would be a remarkable way to close the chapter on one of the great careers in New Zealand sport.

The statistics alone tell a staggering story. Bates has played 362 international matches across all formats, making her the second-most capped women’s cricketer in history — only India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, on 364 appearances, has played more. In ODIs, Bates has scored 5,964 runs at an average of 38.12, including 13 centuries and a highest score of 168. She also claimed 83 wickets with the ball in the 50-over format, underlining the all-round value she has brought to every side she played in. As White Ferns captain across 79 ODI matches, she averaged 51.12 with the bat and scored eight centuries in the role.

In the shortest format, where Bates has been arguably even more dominant, her record is extraordinary. Her 4,717 runs in 181 T20 internationals make her the most prolific run-scorer in the history of women’s T20 cricket. Add 62 wickets in the format and you have a player whose contribution with both bat and ball has been without parallel across two decades of the game.

The individual honours accumulated over that period reflect the esteem in which she is held globally. She was named ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2013, claimed both the Women’s ODI and T20I Player of the Year awards in 2016, and was named the world’s leading women’s player by Wisden in 2015. Each accolade came during a stretch of sustained excellence that few athletes in any sport can match.

White Ferns captain Melie Kerr did not hold back in her assessment of what Bates has meant to New Zealand cricket. Kerr described her as “one of the greatest cricketers of all time” and a role model who has “paved the way for a long time in women’s cricket”, adding that what Bates had done for the game and for sport in New Zealand was immeasurable.

It is a sentiment that will resonate well beyond the cricket community. Bates’ career has coincided with the transformation of women’s cricket from a fringe sport to a genuinely popular global spectacle with broadcast deals, franchise competitions, and prize money that would have been unthinkable when she first pulled on a White Ferns cap in 2006. She was a central figure in that evolution in New Zealand — the public face of the team through its highs and lows, an ambassador for the game, and a mentor to the generation of players who now form the core of the current squad.

Her connection to England runs deep. Bates has spent considerable time competing in English domestic cricket over the years, building a profile that made her one of the most recognisable women cricketers in the country. The 2026 T20 World Cup runs from 12 June to 5 July, with the White Ferns facing England, Ireland, Scotland, and the West Indies in the group stage. The tournament presents Bates with the chance to sign off in front of some of the largest crowds and broadest audiences of her career.

A retirement announcement timed for Anzac Day carries its own quiet significance. The day is set aside across New Zealand and Australia to honour those who served and sacrificed, to reflect on what representing your country truly means. Few athletes have done that with more consistency or greater distinction than Suzie Bates. Twenty years, 362 matches, and the most T20 international runs any woman has ever scored.

The cricket that follows in England may yet be the finest chapter of all. Bates has always reserved something extra for the biggest stages. One final mission remains.

You can read the full story at the NZ Herald.

What is your favourite Suzie Bates memory? Will you be watching the White Ferns in England this June? Share your thoughts in the comments below.