Sam Bates is leading the charge for the Thunder in WBBL|10 in an inspiring turnaround after a 2023-24 summer she would rather forget
Bates turns lemons into a Golden Arm in 'fickle game'
At the end of last summer, Sam Bates was packing up her life in Melbourne and moving back to Newcastle after losing her state contract.
But a lifeline offered by Cricket NSW, combined with the chance to work closely with an Australian legend, has seen the Sydney Thunder spinner rocket to the top of the wickets table in WBBL|10.
The left-armer is enjoying one of her best Big Bash seasons and is the current BKT Golden Arm having claimed 16 wickets at an average of 11 after seven matches.
It stands in stark contrast to her WBBL|09 campaign, where the 32-year-old picked up five wickets at 66.
"I've been feeling really good," Bates told cricket.com.au.
"Cricket's a fickle sport, right? When you're on, you're on, and when you're off, you're really off.
"So, it's been nice to be able to contribute."
Bates went into that below-par 2023 tournament with almost no preparation, after a significant injury to the navicular bone in her foot kept her sidelined for 10 months leading into the season.
Then, when WBBL|09 ended, she lost her spot in Victoria's XI in the WNCL after Australian allrounder and fellow left-armer Sophie Molineux returned from her own serious injury, and with their third left-arm spin option, Sophie Day, enjoying a career-best summer.
That led to Bates parting ways with Victoria at the end of the 2023-24 summer, and she returned home to her native Newcastle without a state contract.
"I still had a year on my contract with Thunder, so they allowed me to train with the NSW Breakers," Bates said of her 2024 preseason.
"I was really under done last year (after the injury).
"So, I reflected upon that, and I've been working with Lisa Sthalekar and a few other coaches along the way to really figure out my style of cricket and then how to put that out on the park."
Bates debuted for NSW at the start of this summer's WNCL and has since been upgraded to a full contract.
Finally donning the sky-blue cap of her state of birth was a moment she never thought would happen, after she started her career with ACT in 2009-10, then spent time in Tasmania and Victoria.
It was during that preseason period that Australia great Sthalekar came to work with the NSW spinners, and the pair immediately clicked.
"I've played a bit of cricket with her and idolised her a little bit," Bates said.
"It was cool to figure out that we have similar mindsets on how we see cricket, and how we go about our cricket.
"(We worked on) just using the crease a little bit more, as well as actually trying to get some flight and some more turn.
"We didn't actually have long to work with, I think we worked with each other for about four weeks, but it just seemed to really click and help."
Bates and the Thunder are enjoyed a promising campaign, sitting on top of the table with three regular season games remaining.
It has continued the upward trajectory of the club after they finished on the bottom of the table in back-to-back seasons before returning to finals in WBBL|09.
"I think our batters have been doing an outstanding job with the bat in order for me to toss the ball up and take wickets," Bates said.
"I think Shabnim Ismail at the other end has bowled exceptionally well for me to come in and build a lot of pressure. I think it's all coming together for us.
"It's a really good environment to be a part of, no matter what year you are playing ... winning helps with the vibes as well.
"We've had Belinda Clark come in for the past two seasons now and we've worked really hard on our values – this season, one of them is 'energy' and we've hit the ground running with that."
Weber WBBL|10 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
REN
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.527 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
HEA
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.384 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
THU
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.002 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
HUR
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.189 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
SCO
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | -0.171 | 0 | 9 |
|
6
SIX
|
10 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | -0.477 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
STR
|
10 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | -0.357 | 0 | 7 |
|
8
STA
|
10 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | -0.205 | 0 | 5 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points