Nathan Astle

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	Tests	ODIs
Nathan Astle New Zealand (NZ)

Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Right-arm medium (RM)
Matches	81	223
Runs scored	4702	7090
Batting average	37.02	34.92
100s/50s	11/24	16/41
Top score	222	145*
Balls bowled	5688	4850
Wickets	51	99
Bowling average	42.01	38.47
5 wickets in innings	-	-
10 wickets in match	-	n/a
Best bowling	3/27	4/43
Catches/stumpings	70/-	83/-
As of 26 January 2007 Source: Cricinfo.com

Nathan John Astle (born 15 September 1971 in Christchurch) is a former member of the New Zealand cricket team. 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 (total innings: 222 vs England in Jade Stadium, Christchurch 2002. In a remarkable innings of just 168 balls, Astle reached the double-century after only 153 balls).

He 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 31st 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. He may have been a dead cert for selection, but his laid-back attitude means he has 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; albeit 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.

Nathan Astle passed Martin Crowe's record number of one-day hundreds for New Zealand (4) during the 1997-1998 summer. When Astle raised his bat to celebrate his century against Zimbabwe at the 2003 World Cup, it was his 13th hundred for New Zealand.

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.^[1]^[2]

In late 2005, Astle was dropped from the national team.^[3]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.

On 26 January 2007, Astle announced his retirement from International cricket in advance of the World Cup,^[4]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.

1 Test Centuries
2 One Day International Centuries
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] 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

[edit] One Day International Centuries

ODI Centuries of Nathan Astle
	Runs	Batting Position	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	114	1-2	India	Nagpur, India	Vidarbha C.A. Ground	1995
[2]	120	1-2	Zimbabwe	Auckland, New Zealand	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	USA	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

[edit] Reference

^ Black Caps' careers on the line by Jonathan Millmow, from The Dominion Post, published on Stuff.co.nz 7 December 2005
^ McMillan and Astle seek runs by Geoff Longley, from The Press, published on Stuff.co.nz , 12 December 2005
^ Astle and McMillan hit for six by Stuff.co.nz and NZPA, 23 December 2005
^ Disappointed Astle vows return to all-out attack by Jonathan Millmow, from The Dominion Post, published on Stuff.co.nz 24 December 2005
^ Astle announces his retirement from Cricinfo, 26 January 2007

[edit] External links

Profile on Cricinfo

	New Zealand squad - 2003 Cricket World Cup
1 Fleming \| 2 Adams \| 3 Astle \| 4 Bond \| 5 Cairns \| 6 Harris \| 7 McCullum \| 8 McMillan \| 9 Mills \| 10 Oram \| 11 Sinclair \| 12 Styris \| 13 Tuffey \| 14 Vettori \| 15 Vincent