White Ferns skipper Suzie Bates is putting her team first, handing over the reins as captain to teammate Amy Satterthwaite as her side prepares for the women's World Twenty 20 in November.
The 31-year-old made the announcement in Lincoln this afternoon at a press conference at New Zealand Cricket's high performance centre.
Satterthwaite will take over as captain for the New Zealand women's T20 series against Australia on September 29 in Sydney.
Bates said it was tough telling her teammates before the press conference.
"It was difficult telling the team before, it's never easy to let go of something that I have really loved," said Bates, who was in charge for six years.
"It has been a long stint and probably the last 12 months I have struggled with dealing with the captaincy and playing.
"And perhaps the performances as a group haven't gone as well as I would have liked."
Bates believes not having the responsibility as captain will help her focus more on her own game.
"Now that the decision has been made, it makes sense for my own game to be able to concentrate on that at the end of my career," she said.
"And put as much into performing as well as I can without the captaincy."
Bates has played 115 one day internationals and 101 T20 internationals, debuting for New Zealand in 2006.
She has also scored 7000 runs for New Zealand.
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