Suzie Bates sweeps ICC Women's Player of the Year awards

New Zealand skipper Suzie Bates sweeps ICC Women's Player of the Year awards New Zealand skipper Suzie Bates swept both the ICC Women's ODI and T20I Player of the Year 2016 awards on Wednesday (December 14).The evaluation was based on the performances during the 12 month-period between 14 September 2015 and 20 September 2016, a period which included the 2016 ICC

Women's World Twenty20 in India. Bates scored 472 runs in eight one-day Internationals at an average of just over 94. She also took eight wickets with a strike-rate of 22.50 and economy of 3.75. Bates was also the highest run-scorer during the period a tally of 429 runs at an average of 42.90 and a strike-rate of over 115.Apart from her exploits with the bat and ball, she also captained New Zealand to a third-place finish in the ICC Women's ODI Championship 2014-16, apart from leading her side to the World T20 semifinals.

"It was a bit of a surprise to find out that I had won both these awards," said Bates, who is currently in Australia. "It is always nice to be recognised for performances and after a busy year of cricket, I am pleased to have managed some consistency over both formats," she added.

Bates had won the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Year award in 2013 but has been named the Women's T20I Player of the Year for the first time. Karen Rolton (2006), Jhulan Goswami (2007), Charlotte Edwards (2008), Claire Taylor (2009), Shelley Nitschke (2010), Stafanie Taylor (2011 and 2012), Sarah Taylor (2014) and Meg Lanning (2015) were the previous winners of the ODI award.

The award for the ICC Women's T20I Player of the Year had previously been given to Sarah Taylor, Meg Lanning (2014) and Stafanie Taylor (2015).

"The awards are always nice but the most important thing for me is to make sure I am performing consistently and helping put the team in a position to win more games," Bates pointed."For the past one-and-a-half years, our team has been performing very well and lots of different players have stood up and performed under pressure. It is heartening to see that the team is doing very well going into the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 which will be held in England and Wales."

Apart from the twin awards, Bates has also been named in the first-ever ICC Women's Team of the Year. West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor has been named the captain of the 12-member side that also includes two veteran Australians - Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry.

The 20-year old Smriti Mandhana, who had a good run during the evaluation period barring a lukewarm World T20 campaign, was the only Indian named in the side.

The panel that decided the awards and the team included Clare Connor (Chairperson), Mel Jones and Shubhangi Kulkarni.

ICC Women's Team of the Year:

Suzie Bates (New Zealand)

Rachel Priest (New Zealand) (wicketkeeper)

Smriti Mandhana (India)

Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) (Captain)

Meg Lanning (Australia)

Ellyse Perry (Australia)

Heather Knight (England)

Deandra Dottin (West Indies)

Sune Luus (South Africa)

Anya Shrubsole (England)

Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand)

Kim Garth (12th) (Ireland)