Nathan Astle

Nathan Astle
Personal information
Full name Nathan John Astle
Born 15 September 1971 (1971-09-15) (age 40)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Role Batsman
International information
National side New Zealand
Test debut January 13 1996 v Zimbabwe
Last Test December 15 2006 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut January 22 1995 v West Indies
Last ODI January 23 2007 v England
Domestic team information
Years Team
1991 - 2007 Canterbury
1997 Nottinghamshire
2005 Durham
2006 Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 81 223 171 377
Runs scored 4702 7090 9321 11635
Batting average 37.02 34.92 37.58 35.58
100s/50s 11/24 16/41 19/50 26/64
Top score 222 145* 223 145*
Balls bowled 5688 4850 13441 10884
Wickets 51 99 150 244
Bowling average 42.01 38.47 32.64 30.31
5 wickets in innings 0 0 2 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 3/27 4/43 6/22 4/14
Catches/stumpings 70/- 83/- 134/0 146
Source: CricketArchive, November 11 2008

Nathan John Astle (born 15 September 1971 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He was an attacking batsman who liked to play batting shots such as the cover drive and the pull shot. He also scored the world's fastest Test double century in terms of balls faced. This remarkable innings of 222 was scored in just 168 balls (vs. England at Jade Stadium, Christchurch in 2002). Astle reached the double-century after only 153 balls, with the second 100 of the double century coming off just 39 balls.

As a batsman, Astle opened the batting for New Zealand in one day cricket, whereas he batted in the middle order in Test cricket. He was also a right arm medium bowler.

Contents

Career

Nathan has 16 ODI Centuries and 37 ODI Fifties to his name and is the second highest run-scorer of all time in One-Day Internationals for New Zealand. His highest ODI score of 145* was recorded against relative minnows USA although he won several matches for his country against countries with full Test match status. He has played County Cricket in England for Derbyshire, Durham and Nottinghamshire and plays for Canterbury in New Zealand.

On 31 May 2006, Lancashire announced that Astle would be a short term overseas replacement for Australian International Brad Hodge in the month of July.

Astle is also an occasional partnership-breaking medium pace bowler and a competent fielder. Because of this multi-utility option he always enjoyed selection in the team but his laid-back attitude resulted him never been considered for the captaincy, despite his seniority.

He began at Canterbury as a no-account batsman and the most parsimonious of medium-paced bowlers; however his batting developed quickly. After becoming a free-scoring one-day player Astle was turned by the national coach Glenn Turner into a first-rate Test top-order batsman, with consecutive hundreds in West Indies in 1995-96. Astle passed Martin Crowe's record number of one-day hundreds for New Zealand (4) during the 1997-1998 summer. For his efforts, Astle received the Player of the Year award for the 1998 season. He was also named New Zealand's One-Day International Batsman of the Year.[1]

Nathan Astle had the fifth highest batting average (49.6) against Australia in Test matches since 1990, compared to other players who have played 10+ tests. This compared to his test batting average of 37.02. He has also scored one test century against Australia. Astle scored sixteen One-Day International Centuries which is the most by any New Zealand batsman to date. He is currently 6th on the all-time list of One-Day centuries behind such names as Tendulkar, Ponting, and Ganguly. [2]

During the 2005 Chappell-Hadlee Series and the preceding tour to South Africa Astle incurred media criticism, along with fellow New Zealand cricket team team-mates Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall and James Marshall, for a slump in form.[3][4]

In late 2005, Astle was dropped from the national team.[5]He returned in 2006, for the home series against the West Indies. He returned to form, and was New Zealand's leading run scorer in the ODIs. After returning, Nathan received the 2005-2006 Walter Hadlee Trophy for Best New Zealand One-Day International batsman. Over the New Zealand summer, he scored 690 One-Day runs from eleven games at an average of 54.2 runs. [6]

On 26 January 2007, Astle announced his retirement from International cricket in advance of the World Cup,[7]stating at the press conference in Perth, "I have been fighting this day for about eight months. I so desperately wanted to go to my fourth World Cup, but deep down inside I knew that I was lacking motivation and the enjoyment levels were just not there." Nathan Astle played his last One-Day International on the 23 January against England at the Adelaide Oval. In 2007 he played for Longton C.C in Staffordshire.

As of December 2007, he is playing for the Mumbai Champs team in the inaugural 20/20 Tournament of the newly formed Indian Cricket League (ICL).

In 2009, Astle announced his intentions to make a career of coaching, and was appointed the head coach role of the Burnside West Christchurch University Cricket Club, a senior club in the Christchurch Metropolitan league, playing under the Canterbury Cricket Association. [8]

Nathan Astle has also been a competent soccer player, playing for Rangers A.F.C. in Christchurch, a club which also at one time had fellow Black Cap Sir Richard Hadlee on its playing roster. Incredibly, Astle also took up Auto racing early in 2010, competing predominantly at Ruapuna Speedway in Christchurch, driving a Modified Sprint car.

Test Centuries

Test Centuries of Nathan Astle
Runs Batting Position Against City/Country Venue Year
1 125 4 West Indies Bridgetown, Barbados Kensington Oval 1996
2 103 5 West Indies St John's, Antigua Antigua Recreation Ground 1996
3 102* 6 England Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 1997
4 114 5 Zimbabwe Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 1998
5 101 4 England Manchester, England Old Trafford 1999
6 141 5 Zimbabwe Wellington, New Zealand Basin Reserve 2000
7 156* 5 Australia Perth, Australia WACA 2001
8 222 5 England Christchurch, New Zealand Jade Stadium 2002
9 103 5 India Ahmedabad, India Sardar Patel Stadium 2003
10 114 5 Sri Lanka Napier, New Zealand McLean Park 2005
11 128 5 Zimbabwe Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Queens Sports Club 2005

One-Day International Centuries

ODI Centuries of Nathan Astle
Runs Batting Position Against City/Country Venue Year
1 114 1-2 India Nagpur, India Eden Park 1996
3 101 1-2 England Ahmedabad, India Gujarat Stadium 1996
4 117 1-2 Pakistan Mohali, India Punjab C.A. Stadium 1997
5 104* 1-2 Zimbabwe Napier, New Zealand McLean Park 1998
6 100* 1-2 South Africa Auckland, New Zealand Eden Park 1999
7 120 1-2 India Rajkot, India Municipal Stadium 1999
8 104 1-2 Australia Napier, New Zealand McLean Park 2000
9 119 1-2 Pakistan Dunedin, New Zealand Carisbrook 2001
10 117 1-2 India Colombo, Sri Lanka R.Premadasa Stadium 2001
11 108 1-2 India Colombo, Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 2001
12 122* 1-2 England Dunedin, New Zealand Carisbrook 2002
13 102* 3 Zimbabwe Bloemfontein, South Africa Goodyear Park 2003
14 145* 1-2 U.S. London, England The Oval 2004
15 115* 1-2 India Harare, Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club 2005
16 118* 3 West Indies Christchurch, New Zealand Jade Stadium 2006

References

  1. ^ Black Caps' careers on the line by Jonathan Millmow, from The Dominion Post, published on Stuff.co.nz 7 December 2005
  2. ^ McMillan and Astle seek runs by Geoff Longley, from The Press, published on Stuff.co.nz, 12 December 2005
  3. ^ Astle and McMillan hit for six by Stuff.co.nz and NZPA, 23 December 2005
  4. ^ Disappointed Astle vows return to all-out attack by Jonathan Millmow, from The Dominion Post, published on Stuff.co.nz 24 December 2005
  5. ^ Astle announces his retirement from Cricinfo, 26 January 2007
  6. ^ Astle named NZ player of the year from Cricinfo, 28 April 1999
  7. ^ [Nathan Astle] from the book Nathan Astle by Phil Gifford, 2007
  8. [9] Astle coach with bat in hand by Hamish Bidwell, from The Press, published on Stuff.co.nz 4 August 2009

Football

Nathan Astle is also a competent soccer player, playing for Rangers A.F.C. in Christchurch.

Auto Racing

Regular competitor at Ruapuna Speedway, Christchurch. (Modified Sprint)

External links

New Zealand squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup
New Zealand squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists
New Zealand squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup