Ryder, Bracewell axed for late-night drinking

WELLINGTON: Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell have been dropped from the New Zealand squad for the second test against India starting on Friday as punishment for going on a late-night drinking session on the eve of the first test in Auckland.

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson told reporters in Auckland yesterday that team officials had lost confidence in the pair and they would not be considered for the Wellington match, although Bracewell was already ruled out with a broken foot.

“We need to make sure that all our players prepare themselves accordingly for test cricket, and at the moment we don’t have confidence that that’s the case,” Hesson said of the visit to an Auckland bar until the early hours of Thursday. “Both Jesse and Doug did not prepare themselves well for the test match and we’re certainly very disappointed about that.

“We’re dealing with grown men. If a player was to have a beer with their meal before a game, we don’t have an issue with that at all. “But there’s a big difference between that and what occurred the night before the test match.”

New Zealand won the first match of the two-test series by 40 runs late on the fourth day on Sunday and Hesson was annoyed that Ryder and Bracewell’s behaviour was still detracting from that performance. “The fact that we’ve won a test match yesterday and the fact the first few questions are based around off-field incidents is clearly an extreme disappointment for the team,”Hesson said. — Reuters