Todd Duncan Astle (born 24 September 1986) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. Astle began his cricket career as an opening batsman, representing New Zealand in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, but over time playing first-class cricket for Canterbury, he morphed into a bowling all-rounder. He made his Test cricket debut for New Zealand in 2012 in Sri Lanka, but did not play another international match until 2015. He represented New Zealand in all three forms of the game, but was unable to keep a consistent place in the team in any format because of regular injury problems and competition with other spin bowlers. In January 2020, Astle retired from first-class cricket to focus on limited-overs cricket. In February 2023 he retired from all forms of professional cricket.
Early life and career
Astle was born in Palmerston North in New Zealand in 1986, the son of first-class cricketer Alec Astle, who played three top-level cricket matches for Central Districts in the 1970s. Astle began his cricket career as an opening batsman, but over time morphed into an all-rounder with his leg spin bowling.
Astle opened the batting for the New Zealand under-19s in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and did not bowl a ball. He finished the cup as the third-highest run-scorer, only behind future Test cricketers Cheteshwar Pujara from India and Eoin Morgan from Ireland. Astle made his debut for state side Cantebury in the first-class Plunket Shield in December 2005, and for the next four years played primarily as an opening batsman.
Astle was an overseas professional for Aberdeenshire C.C. for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, starring with bat and ball. The club had a historic season in 2009, winning the SNCL Premier League and the Scottish Cup.
Astle failed to make his mark for Canterbury as a batsman and wasn't able to stay in the team consistently. The turning point of his career came in March 2010. He wasn't even selected to play for Canterbury in a Plunket Shield match against Otago, but when Canterbury fast bowler Chris Martin was called up to the national team he had to leave the match after two days and Astle was brought into the team to replace him. In the final innings, Astle took his first five-wicket haul in a first-class match to help Canterbury win the match by 158 runs. In the following 2010–11 season, Astle took 37 wickets at an average of 29.08, both becoming Canterbury's best bowler and winning the championship. He followed this up with another strong season in 2011–12, taking a further 31 wickets.
In October 2019, during the Plunket Shield match against Wellington, Astle became the first bowler for Canterbury to take 300 first-class wickets. In June 2020, he was offered a contract by Canterbury ahead of the 2020–21 domestic cricket season.
International career
Test debut
Astle was first included in the New Zealand national cricket team's squad in 2012 when he was named as New Zealand's second spinner for their tour of Sri Lanka in 2012. He made his Test debut for the Blackcaps against Sri Lanka on 25 November 2012. He scored 35 runs in the second innings in a key partnership with Ross Taylor of 107. He took his first wicket also in the second innings by removing Prasanna Jayawardene. Rather than this debut being the start of a long career for Astle, he didn't play another Test for years and was just one of a number of spinners to go through the New Zealand Test team during an injury to Daniel Vettori.
Return to international cricket
For the next three years, Astle did not return to New Zealand's national team in any form of the game. In 2015 he was selected to play for New Zealand A, and in a first-class match against Sri Lanka A took just the second ten-wicket haul of his first-class career. He took four wickets in the first innings and seven wickets in the second innings to finish with eleven for the match. This performance and a successful 2015–16 Ford Trophy put him back into the selection frame for the national team, and in January 2016 he was named in New Zealand's squad for a series of Twenty20 Internationals against Pakistan. He made his Twenty20 International debut on 15 January 2016, and played in the first two matches of the three-match series. He didn't take any wickets and conceded 41 runs from 4 overs across the two matches, so ahead of the final match he was released from the national squad and returned to playing for Canterbury.