Nathan Astle’s strategy to cope with the conditions and the Indianbowlers was masterful. He played mostly on the front foot – 159off the 207 balls he played, showing minimal footwork on 19 ballsand stepping out four times. He played the ball late, allowing itto come to him instead of reaching for it. But when he did rockback, he made it pay; 42 off his 103 runs came off the 25 timeshe went on the back foot. His strike-rate on the back foot was168; the rest of the time, it was 35.
| Astle’s footwork | Balls | Runs | Strike-Rate |
| Front foot | 159 | 56 | 35 |
| Minimal footwork | 19 | 3 | 16 |
| Stepping out | 4 | 2 | 50 |
| Back foot | 25 | 42 | 168 |
| Total | 207 | 103 | 49.8 |
As the above statistic indicates, he played the bowling on itsmerit. Off the 181 occasions that he received a ball on a goodlength or just short of a good length, he made 57 runs. The 13balls that the bowlers dropped short to him went for 34 runs. Hisshot selection was immaculate.
| Playing the ball on its merit | Balls | Runs | Strike-Rate |
| Full length (including half-volleys) | 13 | 12 | 92 |
| Good length or just short | 181 | 57 | 31 |
| Short | 13 | 34 | 262 |
While many of Astle’s singles and twos came via sweeps and dabson the on side, most of his boundaries came from cuts off shortballs on the back foot. In terms of runs, Astle’s wagons wheelappears quite balanced: 56 runs on the off side, and 47 on theoff. But in terms of boundaries, it is decidedly different. Ofhis 14 fours, 12 came on the off side, with 10 of them in the arcbetween extra cover and backward point.
| The Wagon Wheel | Runs | Runs off boundaries |
| Behind wicket – off side | 8 | 8 |
| Square of wicket – off side | 26 | 20 |
| Cover – off side | 21 | 20 |
| Front of wicket – off side | 1 | 0 |
| Front of wicket – on side | 3 | 0 |
| Midwicket – on side | 22 | 8 |
| Square of wicket – on side | 12 | 0 |
| Behind wicket – on side | 10 | 0 |
New Zealand are known for planning for their opponents andconditions. Clearly, Astle had done his homework exceedinglywell.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.
