Former New Zealand international Todd Astle retires from cricket

The spinner earned five Test caps for the Black Caps, taking seven wickets, and also featured in 14 white-ball internationals

Former New Zealand international Todd Astle has announced his retirement from cricket.

The 36-year-old leg-spinner earned five Test caps for the Black Caps between 2012 and 2020, taking seven wickets.

He also made 14 appearances in white-ball internationals for New Zealand, taking 10 ODI wickets in nine outings and a further seven wickets in five T20Is. His final international appearance came in a T20I against India in Jaipur in November 2021.

Originally a batter, Astle burst onto the international scene at the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, opening the batting with Martin Guptill and finishing third in the run-scoring charts behind India's Cheteshwar Pujara and Ireland's Eoin Morgan.

^{Astle made five Test appearances for New Zealand [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

^{Astle spent his entire domestic career with Canterbury [Joe Allison/Getty Images]}

He later converted himself into a spinner and took 334 wickets at 32.17 in 119 first-class outings, 98 List A wickets and 78 T20 wickets.

He didn't lose his touch with the bat, however, scoring 4,345 first-class runs at 25.85, including two centuries and 22 half-centuries, and 1,875 List A runs at 32.89.

Astle spent his entire domestic career with Canterbury.

Announcing his retirement on Instagram, Astle said: "I finish still enjoying the game and loving my craft.

"What an honour it has been to represent NZ [New Zealand] as a Blackcap, my beloved Canterbury and also club OBC."