Samantha Bates

Samantha "Sam" Lee Bates is an Australian cricketer who plays as a spin bowler for the Sydney Thunder and Victoria [women's cricket team|Victoria].
Bates grew up in Newcastle, [New South Wales|Newcastle] and started playing cricket in the local boys' competition at age 10. Originally a fast bowler, she was encouraged to take up spin after requiring a knee reconstruction due to a soccer training accident when she was 16.
The left-armer toured Dubai in March and April 2015 as a member of Cricket Australia's Shooting Stars program, an under-23 development squad. On 6 December, she claimed the Thunder's first-ever wicket in the Women's [Big Bash League], dismissing Alyssa Healy for 14 runs. Two weeks later, Bates broke her right wrist in two places while diving for a catch during a six-wicket loss to the Adelaide Strikers at Allan Border Field. She was consequently ruled out for the remainder of the 2015–16 [Women's Big Bash League season|2015–16 WBBL season], nevertheless the Thunder would go on to win the inaugural championship.
After re-signing with the Thunder in October 2017 for two more seasons, Bates took 16 2017–18 Women's [Big Bash League season|WBBL|03] wickets at an economy rate of 5.88 and was named in the ACA's All-Star Team of the Year.
In October 2018, Bates was selected for the first official women's Australia A tour, which included three 50-over matches and three Twenty20s against India A in Mumbai.
In May 2019, after a decade with the ACT Meteors, Bates signed with Tasmania for the 2019–20 [Women's National Cricket League season|2019–20 WNCL season]. Two months later, she recommitted to the Sydney Thunder for a fifth and sixth WBBL season.