Nathan Astle’s career in numbers
S Rajesh26-Jan-2007
Nathan Astle: one of the few New Zealand batsmen who coped with the Australian attack © Getty Images
A career which began 12 years ago finally wound to an end when Nathan Astle announced that he had lost motivation and had had enough of international cricket. Equally adept at both Test cricket and ODIs, Astle amassed a total of 11,792 international runs, including 27 hundreds, to rank among the most prolific batsmen for New Zealand. (Click here for a list of New Zealand’s highest run-scorers in Tests, and here for their leading ODI run-getters.) And while he only bowled at medium pace, he was an especially handy ODI bowler, finishing just one wicket short of 100His Test average of 37.02 is a relatively modest one in today’s age when so many batsmen have been topping the 50 mark, but Astle was more successful than most against the best side in the world – he averaged 38.75 against Australia, a rare instance of a batsman being more prolific against the Aussies than against the others. In fact, among New Zealand batsmen who played at least ten Tests against them, Astle is fourth in the chart. To put his numbers in perspective, take a look at what Stephen Fleming has managed against them – in 14 Tests, Fleming has only scored 680 runs at an average of 25.18.
Martin Crowe 17 1255 48.26 3/ 6 Andrew Jones 10 808 42.52 2/ 2 Ken Rutherford 11 677 39.82 1/ 6 Nathan Astle 14 930 38.75 1/ 5 John Wright 19 1277 38.69 2/ 4 Adam Parore 10 534 38.14 1/ 1 Numbers don’t tell the entire story about Astle, but the one record that stands in his name is a fitting one and encapsulates the way he approached the game: at Christchurch against England in 2002, with New Zealand seemingly dead and buried in the game, Astle walked out and smashed a double-century in a record 153 balls, eventually falling for 222 off 168 and taking New Zealand to within 98 of their target of 550.As Astle’s career summary shows, he had some problems against some of the other sides – including Bangladesh – but the one bowling attack that gave him nightmares was Pakistan. In seven innings against them, he entered double-digits just once, and averaged a miserable 3.14, less than half of what Danny Morrison managed against them.Surprisingly for such an attacking batsman, his big knocks often didn’t win the game for his team; it only helped them draw matches. In victories Astle averaged only 34, while in stalemates that number went up to 54.
In victories 27 1239 34.41 2/ 8 In draws 26 1892 54.05 7/ 8 In defeats 28 1571 28.05 2/ 8 As a one-day batsman, though, Astle was a definite matchwinner – 14 of his 16 hundreds were in winning causes, and he averaged an impressive 54.53 in those games. When New Zealand lost, though, he only averaged 22.
In victories 92 4254 54.53 14/ 26 In ties 3 105 35.00 0/ 1 In no-results 12 168 28.00 0/ 1 In defeats 116 2563 22.09 2/ 13 Astle’s form in Tests noticeably dipped in 2006 – he only scored 316 in 13 innings – but as a one-day player he remained a force, averaging nearly 59 from 12 matches. Unfortunately for him, even the ODI runs dried up in January 2007 – from six innings he made just 46 runs, with three ducks.Astle’s decision to quit the game just six months before the World Cup also means he won’t get another opportunity to correct what are decidedly modest stats in the biggest cricket tournament in the world. Astle made his World Cup debut in auspicious manner, scoring 101 against England in the 1996 edition, but only once more did he reach three figures in 21 further World Cup innings. He ended the 2003 campaign with successive ducks to finish with a World Cup average of 20.15, which, like his other career numbers, do scant justice to his capabilities as a batsman.