Bates makes mark in Surrey sojourn

ALL- ROUNDER Josh Bates has returned home from a successful season in England and is ready to unleash on the Poverty Bay premier competition which starts this weekend with the Doleman Cup (40 overs) championship.
There are only three premier teams this season.
Gisborne Boys’ High School and High School Old Boys meet at Harry Barker Reserve tomorrow. Bates and his Tatapouri/United team-mates open their campaign against GBHS on Sunday.
“It is disappointing we only have three premier teams but most of the premier players I have spoken to since coming back want to continue playing premier games rather than drop down to division one,” said Bates.
“We had three teams a couple of seasons ago and while it was not ideal, we got through.”
The 24-year-old is looking confidently to the summer after leading the batting statistics for Woking & Horsell Cricket Club’s first 11 in the third division of the Surrey Championship.
Bates spent five months in England and enjoyed his time with the club.
“Everyone made it easy to settle in. One of our players, John Hargan — a left hand batsman and right arm bowler — has come here for a year.”
Bates introduced himself to his new team with a five-wicket bag in his first game and followed it with 110 runs in his second.
“The club had won promotion to the third division and were keen to stay up, but by the time I arrived they had lost their first three games.
“I couldn’t have wished for a better start but the next game wasn’t so flash. I got a duck and didn’t take any wickets. But we achieved our aim of staying up and I managed to score a few runs and take some wickets.”
The Tata/United captain is too modest.
Bates finished the season with 1366 runs from 33 games, (32 innings), including 11 not outs.He scored three centuries, eight 50s and a club record 170 not out in his final match — an annual end-of-season friendly against Ripley. Bates’ knock featured 21 fours and eight sixes while his 100 came off 89 balls.
“Woking hadn’t beaten them for five years so that was a good way to end my time in England.”
His season average was 65.5, with a strike rate of 89.5.
He was also the No. 2 wicket-taker with 37 — with a best of 5-28 — at a average of 14.97 and economy rate of 3.51.
“The standard of the 10-team league was somewhere between our premier club cricket and Fergus Hickey level. Playing against overseas players — some with a lot more experience than me — was awesome. I learned a lot.”
Aside from his exploits on the field, Bates said highlights of his OE included watching England batsman Alastair Cook score a double century (294) in the third test against India at Birmingham.
“I was in the crowd with the Barmy Army and the atmosphere was fantastic,” he said.