Date-stamped : 15 Nov96 - 06:14 13 November 1996 Astle Ends Dry Spell In Desert SHARJAH -- Cricket is a humbling game and even the best players lose form sooner or later. New Zealand`s opening batsman Nathan Astle is no exception. Successive ducks at the Champions Trophy one-day tournament dent- ed the confidence of Astle, who posted three one-day centuries last summer when he was consistently among his team`s best per- formers. Astle`s lean run with the bat ended yesterday when he scored a gritty 66, his fourth limited-overs half century against Sri Lan- ka. It was a significant contribution in a game that ended in a rare tie. Both teams managed just 169 on a reasonable batting pitch. However, it was far from vintage Astle. He was dropped on six and struggled to get under way as he laboured 46 balls to reach dou- ble figures. At times he looked as disoriented as a man searching for a drink in the desert, but the classy Canterbury player eventually found his bearings. In the latter stages of his innings, Astle started timing the ball even if it was a pale imitation of the precision hitting of last season. Quality of performance was not a high priority for him. Simply spending time in the middle was reward enough. "After getting two noughts it was just good to get some runs on the board and spend time in the middle," Astle said. "Obviously, after missing out twice your confidence goes down and today will help me," Astle said. He never got into his stride and did not score a boundary until the 20th over when he reminded everyone of his strength by cart- ing the gentle medium pace of Arjuna Ranatunga over the fence straight down the ground. "I struggled out there and we kept losing wickets regularly. "That put me in two minds whether to give it a go or not. I de- cided to hang around and try to see it through. "I had a pretty bad start and then running out Chris Cairns just added to that," he said, referring to his poor judgment when he called Cairns through for a quick single only for his partner to come up well short of his ground. "I just had to bat through and I rated myself to catch up from the 40th to 45th over. "It didn`t work out but that was what was in the back of my mind." Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)