in Staffordshire. He was a part of the Mumbai Champs team in the inaugural 20/20 Tournament of the now defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL). International career Debut years Astle was selected for the ODI series against West Indies in 1995. He was again selected for the series against Sri Lanka where's he scored 95 in one of the matches thus enabling New Zealand level the series and ending their losing streak after 13 matches. It was under the insistence of Glenn Turner, then coach of New Zealand, Astle was selected for the Test side and started playing as an opener in ODIs. He was again selected for a five match ODI series in India. In the first four matches, he failed to score, but in the final match he recorded his first ODI century scoring 114 off 128 balls. New Zealand won the match and Astle was declared "man of the match", in spite of New Zealand losing the series 3–2. The following year Astle made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Trust Bank Park, Hamilton. In the ODI series, Astle scored a century in the first match and was named "man of the match". All in all, he scored 168 runs in the series averaging 56.00. Following that, Astle was named in the New Zealand squad for the 1996 Cricket World Cup that was held in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He scored his first World Cup hundred in new Zealand's opening match, against England, of the tournament. However, Astle failed to score runs in the rest of the tournament, eventually ended up with 111 runs at an average of 18.5. Following his dismal performance at the World Cup, Astle was selected for the two match Test series in West Indies. This was his second series after the one against Zimbabwe at home. Until then, he managed just 77 runs in four innings at an average of 19.25, In the first Test at Kensington Oval, he scored 54 (48 balls) and 125 in both innings of the Test. In the second innings he was involved in a partnership of 144 runs with Justin Vaughan for the fifth wicket, a record for New Zealand then. In spite of his performance in the match, New Zealand lost the match by ten wickets. He continued his good form with the bat as he scored 103 in the second Test, enabling New Zealand