Is Jesse Ryder running out of sympathy?
13-Feb-2014
After another drinking incident cut short another Jesse Ryder comeback, the feeling among the New Zealand cricket writers is that the troubled but talented batsman might have run out of goodwill, especially at a time when New Zealand have built up a string of impressive results and should be basking in it.
Dominion Post's Wayne Martin won't be surprised if he doesn't see Ryder in a New Zealand shirt again.
Jesse Ryder must surely have exhausted any lingering shred of sympathy most reasonable observers might have felt towards New Zealand sport's serial recidivist
Former fast bowler Jonathan Millmow, writing in the same paper, says:
"Ryder and Doug Bracewell's drinking session the night before the first test in Auckland took the gloss off an exciting win against India. That does not go down well with players, coaches and selectors who pore over computer footage late at night while Ryder and Bracewell shout their hangers-on another round of bourbon and cokes. No one wants to see Ryder self-destruct but at some stage he has to accept some responsibility. The timing of his latest slip-up is poor, with the IPL auction on tomorrow night (5pm NZ time) but perhaps it is a blessing in disguise."
Over at New Zealand Herald, David Leggat expresses that anger that might well be NZC's too.
First, enough is enough. This is far from the first time the pair, together and individually, have been in hot water, and let off relatively lightly. Lessons have not been learned. Second, their timing was awful.