SAM Bates remembers backyard battles with her brother, first joining district club Wallsend and later travelling down the M1 Freeway to Sydney for an all-female competition each Sunday in summer.
But the Thunder spinner says "not in my wildest dreams" did she envisage playing 100 Women's Big Bash League games, especially considering the competition didn't even exist when she was growing up in Newcastle.
Bates, now aged 30, is poised to reach the rare milestone on Tuesday (7:10pm) when the Thunder host Melbourne Renegades at Canberra's Manuka Oval, the same place she made her Women's National Cricket League debut for the ACT Meteors over a decade ago.
"I wasn't a stand out cricketer and not the best at anything really, I was just there for fun," Bates told the Newcastle Herald.
"I kind of fell into a couple of teams that pushed my cricket career along to where it is today.
"Not in my widest dreams did I think I'd be playing in the first ever WBBL game, let alone 100 WBBL games for the same team."
Bates is a foundation member of the Thunder squad and has been part of both titles, featuring the inaugural crown in 2015-16 despite being injured for the final and more recently in 2020-21.
She feels "depth" in the playing pool has been the major change in her time at the top.
"I reckon I could talk about it all day, the comparisons between WBBL 01 and what it is now," she said.
"I think the biggest change has been the depth of cricketers now. The likes of Phoebe [Litchfield], Hannah [Darlington] and Anika [Learoyd] are so young and so talented and already making a massive impact in WBBL.
"Compared to 01, I don't think we really had that depth."
Bates has taken 90 wickets with her left-arm orthodox deliveries, placing her 10th on the all-time WBBL list, with best figures of 3-9 against Perth at Blacktown in 2020.
She averages 22.43 with an economy rate of 6.08.
But how much longer Bates will continue at the crease remains unknown.
"Maybe if they extend the comp throughout the year [I could play another 100 WBBL games], but I'm not sure I've got another eight years left in me," she said.
"Whilst ever I'm enjoying the game and enjoying the environment and I don't feel like I'm going to work every day, I'll continue playing."
Bates, who also lines up for Victoria in WNCL, says the Thunder still have plenty to play for over the closing stages of the season despite being out of contention for finals.
"We obviously haven't got off to the start we wanted, which has crashed our campaign for finals but I think we still have a lot to play for," she said.
"Hopefully we can get a couple of wins on the board and try and finish as high as we can."
Bates says it would be "amazing" to see WBBL played at Newcastle's No.1 Sportsground one day.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Newcastle Herald website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.
