Alec Morrison Astle (born 5 August 1949) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played two

first-class match First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

es for the

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

in the 1978–79 season. He also played for Manawatu in the

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat ...

. He was born in

Feilding Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. Feilding has ...

. He is the father of

Todd Astle Todd Duncan Astle (born 24 September 1986) is a New Zealand cricketer who plays 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, bu ...

. Astle was a long-serving and influential staff member, cricket coach and Deputy Rector of

Palmerston North Boys' High School Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...

, where he taught for 24 years. After that, he served as national development manager for

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New Z ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

for more than 10 years. He then worked for Spark as a community sport manager. While in Christchurch he served as President of the Christchurch Metro Cricket Association, and in recognition of his service he received a Lifetime Service Award at the 2019 Sport Canterbury Awards. He was awarded a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

from

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural o ...

in 2015, writing his thesis on the importance of the grassroots level of cricket. He is the co-author of ''Sport Development in Action: Plan, Programme and Practice'' (2018), a textbook on the development of sport in communities and schools. With fellow Central Districts and Manawatū player Murray Brown, Astle wrote ''125 Not Out'', the official history of the Manawatū Cricket Association, in 2021.

References

1949 births Living people People from Feilding New Zealand cricketers New Zealand cricket administrators Central Districts cricketers New Zealand schoolteachers Massey University alumni {{NewZealand-cricket-bio-1940s-stub