Born 17th February 1972 in Ashburton, Mid Canterbury, is former ODI and T20I player for New Zealand, Helen Watson.
A right-hand batter and right-arm medium pace bowler, Helen made her debut for Canterbury in 1996/97 against the touring Pakistan team in a 50 over match where the home team amassed 425. She made 28 before taking 4-13 from her 10 overs including the wicket of top Pakistan batter Kiran Baluch.
Helen stayed with Canterbury until 2000/01 when she made the switch to Auckland. In the meantime an international debut came in an ODI against Australia in February 1999 at Palmerston North where she didn’t bowl and was runout by Belinda Clark for just 1 run. It didn’t matter: the White Ferns won.
That was the first of 66 matches Helen played which included two World Cups, in 2000 and 2005. The 2000 World Cup was surely a high point for the Kiwis defeated Australia in the final to be crowned champions.
An ODI high score of 115 not out from 114 balls came against Ireland at Dublin in 2004. With the ball Helen took 54 ODI wickets at 23.83 with a best of 3-14 against South Africa at Lincoln in the 2000 World Cup. She also took 2-0 against Sri Lanka at the 2005 World Cup.
Just eight T20 Internationals, including the first one ever played, against England in 2004. Best bowling return was 3-13 against South Africa in 2007.