Author(s): Phil Gifford

Cricket

One of cricket's free spirits, Nathan Astle became a lively allrounder at Test and one-day level without losing his breezy confidence. He began at Canterbury as a no-account batsman and the most parismonious of medium-paced bowlers, but 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. He ripped up the record books with his 222 against England, at Christchurch in 2001/02, which was the fastest double century in Tests, coming up off only 153 balls. A knee injury forced him out of action towards the end of 03, but he was picked for the England tour in 2004. Astle is an assured batsman in both games, an expert slip-catcher, and an occasional medium-pace partnership-breaker. Quite rightly named NZ batsman of the 1990's.