"Once I committed, I never looked back and had a great time"- Suzie Bates on her time at Durham
28.08.25, 12:00 Updated 27.08.25, 18:54 6 Minute Read
It's not often you're arranging an interview for 10pm on a 'school night', but exceptions can be made, especially when you're interviewing one of the icons of women's cricket.
When Durham announced the capture of Suzie Bates prior to the start of their inaugural campaign as a professional women's outfit, it was one that was met with much anticipation and excitement. It showed that Durham weren't just there to make up the numbers in the new dawn for women's cricket in England.
The signing of Bates certainly lived up to the hype because it was an excellent season for the 37-year-old, as she picked up 467 One Day Cup runs at an average of 51.88 and was the highest run scorer in the T20 Blast, scoring 439 runs at a strike rate of 121.27.
Speaking exclusively to The Chester from her home in New Zealand, Bates explained how the move to Durham came about: "In this professional era, we have agents as players, and we spoke about the opportunity to play 50 over cricket ahead of the World Cup and New Zealand didn't have any cricket this winter. So James, my agent, talked to clubs and found out what they needed.
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