Alan Castell
{{short description|English cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Alan Castell
| image =
| country = England
| fullname = Alan Terry Castell
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|8|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Leg break googly
Right-arm medium
| club1 = Hampshire
| year1 = {{nowrap|1961–1971}}
| columns = 2
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 112
| runs1 = 1,622
| bat avg1 = 15.90
| 100s/50s1 = –/4
| top score1 = 76
| deliveries1 = 14,832
| wickets1 = 229
| bowl avg1 = 30.97
| fivefor1 = 8
| tenfor1 = 1
| best bowling1 = 6/22
| catches/stumpings1 = 89/–
| column2 = List A
| matches2 = 30
| runs2 = 148
| bat avg2 = 9.25
| 100s/50s2 = –/–
| top score2 = 24
| deliveries2 = 1,571
| wickets2 = 28
| bowl avg2 = 36.28
| fivefor2 = –
| tenfor2 = –
| best bowling2 = 4/52
| catches/stumpings2 = 11/–
| date = 28 September
| year = 2009
| source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/10688.html Cricinfo
}}
Alan Terry Castell (born 6 August 1943) is an English former cricketer who played for Hampshire between 1961 and 1971 at both first-class and List A level. He began his career as a leg-break and googly bowler, but later switched to medium-pace. In 112 first-class appearances, he took nearly 230 wickets.
Early cricket career
Castell was born at Oxford in August 1943. He first came to the attention of Hampshire coach Arthur Holt as a leg break googly bowler while playing for an Oxford juniors team in 1959,{{cite web|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000736/19600420/266/0020|title=Prospect|work=Portsmouth Evening News|page=20|date=20 April 1960|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} who invited Castell to join the Hampshire staff without a trial.{{sfn|Chalke|1999|p=47}}{{cite web|url=https://hampshirecrickethistory.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/a-z-c4/|title=A–Z (C4)|website=www.hampshirecrickethistory.wordpress.com|access-date=30 April 2024}} Early in his career at Hampshire, he built a good relationship with Hampshire secretary Desmond Eagar, who once chastised him for the casual manner in which he addressed Hampshire president Harry Altham.{{sfn|Chalke|1999|p=47}}
He made his debut for the Hampshire first eleven in a first-class match against Oxford University at Portsmouth in 1961.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=30 April 2024|url-access=subscription}} He appeared in the same fixture the following season, before making three appearances in the County Championship. Notably, against Surrey he shared in a partnership of 230 for the ninth wicket with Danny Livingstone, which as of {{year}} remains a Hampshire record for that wicket;{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/England/Firstclass/Hampshire/Partnership_Records/Highest_Partnership_Each_Wicket_For.html|title=Highest Partnership for Each Wicket for Hampshire|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=30 April 2024|url-access=subscription}} Castell contributed 76 runs to the partnership, which would become his highest first-class score.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=30 April 2024|url-access=subscription}} In the 1963 season, he made nine first-class appearances, taking 28 wickets at an average of 18.85; he took three five wicket hauls in these matches, with best figures of 5 for 46.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/f_Bowling_by_Season.html|title=First-Class Bowling in Each Season by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} His performances in 1963 led some critics to suggest Castell could be a Test hopeful.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002137/19640719/352/0033|title=What a Test Team Teaser|work=Sunday Mirror|location=London|page=33|date=19 July 1964|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} In the winter which followed the 1963 season, Castell toured the West Indies with the International Cavaliers, playing in two first-class matches against Jamaica at Kingston.
Reinvention as a medium pacer
He played infrequently for Hampshire in 1964 and 1965, failing to live up to the early promise his leg break bowling had shown; the Australian Bill Alley had suggested that Castell was more promising than Richie Benaud was at the same age. He reinvented himself as a right-arm medium pace bowling ahead of the 1966 season, in which he made eleven first-class appearances, taking 36 wickets at an average of 22.55, which included two five wicket hauls and what were, at that point, his career best bowling figures of 6 for 49. In that same season, he also made his debut in List A one-day cricket against Worcestershire in the semi-final of the Gillette Cup.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/List_A_Matches.html|title=List A Matches played by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} Over the following two seasons, he was largely ineffective, taking 12 and 19 wickets respectively in 1967 and 1968, at expensive averages. He made 22 first-class appearances in 1969, having his most successful season in terms of wickets, with 50 at an average of 25.90; amongst his three five wickets hauls that season were his career best figures of 6 for 22, taken against Somerset.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30045.html|title=Somerset v Hampshire, County Championship 1969|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}
Castell again featured in 21 first-class matches in 1970, taking 43 wickets at an average of 39.86. Having played one-day intermittently since his 1966 debut in that format, he featured more prominently for Hampshire in one-day cricket during 1970, taking 12 wickets at an average of 38.16 from fourteen matches.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/a_Bowling_by_Season.html|title=List A Bowling in Each Season by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} In 1971, he featured in a further thirteen first-class matches, taking 27 wickets at an average of 30.88, while in one-day cricket he took 8 wickets from eight matches. Castell left Hampshire at the end of the 1971 season to pursue a career in the alcoholic drinks industry.{{sfn|Chalke|1999|p=44}} From his debut in 1961, he made 110 first-class appearances for Hampshire, scoring 1,600 runs.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} With the ball, he took 225 wickets at an average of 30.68; he took a five wicket haul on eight occasions and once took ten-wickets in a match.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/f_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Bowling For Each Team by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} In one-day cricket, he made thirty appearances and took 28 wickets at an average of 36.28, taking best figures of 4 for 52.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/a_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=List A Bowling For Each Team by Alan Castell|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}
Away from county cricket, he played club cricket for Old Tauntonians.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6526/all_teams.html|title=Teams Alan Castell played for|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription}} In the alcoholic drinks industry, he worked for The Distillers Company, which was responsible for marketing Gordon's Gin throughout the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003432/19870612/723/0007|title=Guests of Gordon's|work=Lynn Advertiser|location=King's Lynn|page=7|date=12 June 1987|access-date=1 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} He retired from the industry in the late 1990s.{{sfn|Chalke|1999|p=44}}
References
{{reflist}}
Works cited
- {{cite book|title=Caught in the Memory: County cricket in the 1960s|first=Stephen|last=Chalke|author-link=Stephen Chalke|publisher=Fairfield Books|location=Bath|year=1999|isbn=9780953119615|language=en}}
External links
- {{cricinfo|id=10688}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castell, Alan}}
Category:Cricketers from Oxford