The 32-year-old former White Ferns captain has become the first female to play 300 twenty20 games.
She brought up the milestone with a player-of-the-match performance for the Adelaide Strikers against Hobart Hurricanes in Hobart on Saturday.
Bates struck a crisp 64 from 54 deliveries to help her side post 143 for three.
The Hurricanes came up two runs short in the chase.
Victory meant Bates had twice the reason to celebrate but she told media she ‘‘had no idea about that but it probably makes sense — I have been playing for a while’’.
She sure has. Bates made her provincial debut for Otago aged 15. She was still at school and has been playing for the Otago Sparks for more than half her life.
Bates also played basketball at the highest level and represented New Zealand at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
But it became increasingly difficult to juggle the two sports and she put basketball firmly on the backburner when she was named White Ferns captain in 2011.
She stepped down from that role last year but continues to be a key cog in the White Ferns line-up.
Bates is the leading all-time scorer in women’s international T20 with 3100 runs at an average of 30.69.
She is also the all-time sixth-leading scorer in women’s one-day internationals with 4392 runs.
And while she plays all around the world these days, the Sparks have remained close to her heart and she will return to Dunedin next month to play in the Super Smash for her province.
Last month, Bates became the first female to made a life member of the Otago Cricket Association.
