Isabella Charli Gaze (born 8 May 2004) is a Dutch-born New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who currently plays for

Auckland Hearts The Auckland Hearts is the women's representative cricket team for the New Zealand region of Auckland. They play their home games at Eden Park Outer Oval. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and the Women's Supe ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. She plays as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

and right-handed

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

Early life

Gaze was born on 8 May 2004 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She lived in the Netherlands for 18 months before moving to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, then

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and finally to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. At the age of 18, Gaze went to university and worked part-time after the domestic cricket season in New Zealand had ended.

Domestic career

Gaze made her debut for

in 2019, against

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in the 2019–20 Super Smash. She missed much of the 2020–21 season due to a collarbone fracture.

International career

Gaze was part of a

camp ahead of the side's series against India and the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

. Following the retirement of New Zealand wicket-keeper

Katey Martin Katey Jane Martin (born 6 February 1985) is a New Zealand former cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper and right-handed batter. She appeared in one Test match, 103 One Day Internationals and 95 Twenty20 Internationals for New Zealand between 2 ...

after the World Cup, Gaze was awarded a central contract by

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New Z ...

. Gaze earned her first call-up to the full New Zealand side in June 2022, when she was selected in the squad for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

. She made her

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut on 30 July 2022, against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in New Zealand's first match at the Commonwealth Games. She made her

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

debut on 19 September 2022, on New Zealand's tour of the West Indies. In December 2022, Gaze was selected in the New Zealand Under-19 squad for the

2023 ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup The 2023 ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup was the first edition of the ICC Women's Under-19 Cricket World Cup, hosted by South Africa in 2023. The tournament was moved from its original slot at the end of 2021 to January 2023 because of the COV ...

. She scored 47 runs in her three innings at the tournament.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaze, Izzy 2004 births Living people Sportspeople from Haarlem New Zealand women cricketers New Zealand women One Day International cricketers New Zealand women Twenty20 International cricketers Auckland Hearts cricketers Cricketers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in cricket Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Dutch emigrants to New Zealand