KEY POINTS:
So how will Nathan Astle be remembered?
The answer is simple.
The longstanding veteran New Zealand batsman, who yesterday opted to walk away from a 12-year international career, will, more than anything else, be remembered as the man who once made the sky above Jade Stadium rain with cricket balls, during one of the most astonishing batting onslaughts in the history of the game.
The date was Saturday, March 16, 2002 and it was the fourth day of the first test against England - a side who were in so much control at that stage of the match that most onlookers expected New Zealand's second innings chase for 550 to be all over before tea.
Instead, those who braved the unlikely situation to turn up for the start of play, and those who later streamed to the ground as news of Astle's phenomenal innings spread, were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The dyed-in-wool Cantabrian has played many great hands during his career, as his 11 test centuries and 16 ODI tons can attest, and he leaves the game as one of New Zealand's most influential players, and arguably their best ever ODI batsman.
If pressed on his career highlights, his usual modus operandi is to move away from his personal achievements and concentrate on some of his favourite team moments - such as the 1999 test series win in England, and New Zealand's first victory at Lord's.
But nothing the 35-year-old has done before or since will ever dissuade me that his most compelling performance - and one of New Zealand cricket's most famous days - revolves around his 222 against England five years ago.
So dramatic was it that, within hours of his breathtaking and record-destroying innings, his deeds had gatecrashed the Wisden 100 - the list from the cricket world's "bible" ranking the great and heroic acts in the history of the game.
Though it was not enough for New Zealand to avoid defeat in the opening test - they ended up losing by 98 runs - the manner in which Astle raged until the end ensured his effort would be remembered long after the result.
Comedian Robin Williams once described cricket as being like "baseball on valium", but he may have altered his assessment had he witnessed Astle's pyrotechnics on the last day of that particular test at Christchurch.
In a match that swayed from one spectacular individual performance to another, Astle struck the fastest double-century in history in terms of the number of balls bowled, raising his second hundred off a mere 39 deliveries.
Of the 11 sixes he smote, two sailed on to the roof of the No 1 and No 2 stands and left some of the most respected names in the game - Ian Botham, Bob Willis, Martin Crowe, Ian Smith - virtually babbling over his strikepower.
Described by one English newspaper as the best hometown innings since Geoff Boycott made his 100th hundred at Headingley in 1977, Astle's contribution was a tad different in approach, to the extent that it even gave his side a faint chance of scoring the world-record 550 to win.
In terms of dramatic New Zealand losses, his near miss probably ranked alongside the courageous run-chase at Trent Bridge in 1973, and the emotion-charged scenes at Johannesburg in 1953 when the tourists were battered by Neil Adcock and devastated by news of the Tangiwai train disaster.
Astle's extraordinary innings, lasting just 168 deliveries and including 11 sixes, 28 fours and two lost balls, pushed him into the Wisden list at 71st place, though if New Zealand had won the match he would have apparently made the top 10.
His second century contained nine sixes - all of which would have delighted bat-makers Kookaburra with the distance they travelled - and hinted at the savagery brought to the game by the likes of Sir Vivian Richards, Ian Botham or Sanath Jayasuryia.
It was the sort of day that rendered the idea of one-day internationals almost nonsensical, when the familiar claim of test cricket being boring was shown up to be the fallacy it always was; and when one man's last stand stole the hearts of a nation.
The only people who weren't exactly dancing in the aisles were the ball suppliers for the Canterbury Cricket Association, a group of nervous used-car dealers in the adjacent street, and the disbelieving England pace bowlers.
A couple of distinct memories involve England swing-bowler Matthew Hoggard, who laid waste to New Zealand's first innings batting with seven wickets, taking one for 142 off 24.3 overs in the second - and Andy Caddick conceding 25 off an over before being taken from the attack.
Apart from the bruised pride of the England bowlers, the other noticeable problem was the potential for serious neck injuries, as fieldsmen, bowlers and the crowd alike tried to keep their eyes on a series of disappearing objects.
The maelstrom prompted Wisden.com's assistant editor Lawrence Booth to suggest that, if former cricket writer Raymond Robertson-Glasgow was right about Bradman's batting being a mixture of poetry and murder then, for a brief hour, Astle was Shakespeare and Jack the Ripper rolled into one.
Cricket fans will have their different Nathan Astle moments - there's so many of them to choose from - but there's unlikely to be another day in New Zealand cricket history when one of our own will so comprehensively destroy an opposition attack.
It's true, he will be missed, and his experience will be difficult to replace, but at least he's left us with plenty to remember him by.
Nathan Astle
* Born: September 15, 1971, Christchurch.
* One-day international debut: 1994-95 v West Indies, Auckland.
* ODI statistics: 223 matches, 7090 runs at 34.92. 50s: 41. 100s: 16. Strike rate: 72.62. Highest score: 145 not out v United States, The Oval, 2004. Bowling: 99 wickets at 38.47, economy rate 4.71. Best bowling: 4-43 v Pakistan, Mohali, 1996-97. Catches: 83.
* Most centuries by an NZ ODI batsman, 10 more than second-placed Stephen Fleming.
* Second highest NZ ODI runscorer, behind Fleming's 7411.
* Third most ODI appearances for NZ, behind Fleming's 262 and Chris Harris' 250.
* Thirteenth highest ODI wicket-taker for NZ.
* Test debut: 1995-96 v Zimbabwe, Hamilton.
* Test statistics: 81 matches, 4702 runs at 37.02. 50s: 24. 100s: 11.
Highest score: 222 v England, Christchurch, 2001-02. Bowling: 51 wickets at 42.01. Best bowling: 3-27 v Sri Lanka, Wellington, 2004-05.
Catches: 70.
