{{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|1943|8|6|df=y}} | birth_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2024|11|17|1943|8|6}} | death_place = Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England | heightft = | heightinch = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Leg break googly<br>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''' (6 August 1943 – 17 November 2024) was an English 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,<ref>{{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}}</ref> who invited Castell to join the Hampshire staff without a trial.{{sfn|Chalke|1999|p=47}}<ref name="HCH">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="FCM">{{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}}</ref> He appeared in the same fixture the following season, before making three appearances in the County Championship.<ref name="FCM"/> 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;<ref>{{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}}</ref> Castell contributed 76 runs to the partnership, which would become his highest first-class score.<ref>{{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}}</ref> In the 1963 season, he made nine first-class appearances,<ref name="FCM"/> 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.<ref name="FCBOS">{{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}}</ref> His performances in 1963 led some critics to suggest Castell could be a Test hopeful.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="FCM"/>
==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.<ref name="HCH"/> He reinvented himself as a right-arm medium pace bowling ahead of the 1966 season, in which he made eleven first-class appearances,<ref name="FCM"/> 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.<ref name="FCBOS"/> 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.<ref name="LAM">{{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}}</ref> Over the following two seasons, he was largely ineffective, taking 12 and 19 wickets respectively in 1967 and 1968, at expensive averages.<ref name="FCBOS"/> He made 22 first-class appearances in 1969,<ref name="FCM"/> 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,<ref name="FCBOS"/> taken against Somerset.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
Castell again featured in 21 first-class matches in 1970,<ref name="FCM"/> taking 43 wickets at an average of 39.86.<ref name="FCBOS"/> 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.<ref name="LAM"/><ref name="LABOS">{{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}}</ref> In 1971, he featured in a further thirteen first-class matches,<ref name="FCM"/> taking 27 wickets at an average of 30.88,<ref name="FCBOS"/> while in one-day cricket he took 8 wickets from eight matches.<ref name="LABOS"/> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
Away from county cricket, he played club cricket for Old Tauntonians.<ref>{{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}}</ref> In the alcoholic drinks industry, he worked for The Distillers Company, which was responsible for marketing Gordon's Gin throughout the United Kingdom.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He retired from the industry in the late 1990s.{{sfn|Chalke|1999|p=44}}
Castrell died in November 2024, at the age of 81.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alan Castell (1943-2024) |url=https://www.utilitabowl.com/cricket/news/alan-castell-(1943-2024)/ |website=Hampshire CCC |access-date=16 October 2025}}</ref>
==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:1943 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Cricketers from Oxford Category:English cricketers Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:International Cavaliers cricketers Category:20th-century English sportsmen