Friday's one-day international at Durban between New Zealand and South Africa will be the 200th one-dayer for Nathan Astle, the New Zealand batsman. Astle who made his debut against West Indies at Auckland on January 22, 1995 becomes just the fourth New Zealand player to reach the 200-match milestone after Chris Harris (250), Stephen Fleming (243) and Chris Cairns (208).
Speaking to Radio Sport, Astle said: "It's a nice milestone to get there, and I want to make it a memorable day for myself and the team. Talking about his current poor run with the bat, Astle, with 6389 runs behind him, said," Obviously the bat for me has been non-existent. That's part of international sport and that's the way it goes and you just have to keep on trucking and trusting what you know. Sooner or later you'll come out on the other side. It's more of a mental thing now. When you go out there you just have to relax and remember what you've done in the past that has got you runs."
New Zealand will head into the fourth ODI at Durban with the five-match series already settled 3-0 in favour of the hosts. Astle said the team is disappointed but is determined to avoid a whitewash. "I think the guys are disappointed in the way it's been three close games. We haven't got absolutely thumped and it could be easily 2-1, or 3-0 the other way around. We know we're close to these guys, and all three games have been great spectacles for the crowd. It's just disappointing that we haven't got over the line. From the series point of view it would have been nice to have something riding on these last two games but it's purely pride now and we don't want to lose five nil. We want to come home losing 3-2. That's our aim at the moment."