No regrets: Ryder opens up on career

Now eyes Indoor Cricket World Cup glory

Former Black Caps batsman Jesse Ryder has opened up on his international cricket career as he attempts to lead New Zealand to a different kind of World Cup glory.

Ryder is part of the New Zealand side competing at the Indoor Cricket World Cup in Melbourne this week as they look to end the hosts’ stranglehold on the world title.

Ryder says he has no regrets about his international career even if others might consider he is one of the great “what-ifs” for New Zealand Cricket. The left-handed batsman was a great young talent, averaging 40.83 in 18 tests for New Zealand between 2008 and 2011 which included a high score of 201 against India. But off-the-field incidents saw him fall out of favour with selectors — the last of his 48 ODIs and 22 Twenty20 internationals taking place in the summer of 2014.

The hard-hitting batsman had a chequered history of alcohol-related incidents, including badly gashing his hand after trying to break a window at a Christchurch bar in 2008.

“In my younger years I was a wild child but I’ve chilled out a bit,” Ryder told Code Sports. “Being in the spotlight wasn’t my thing. Outdoor cricket always had a lot of other pressures. The media always got a hold of me. It got to a point that I couldn’t really be bothered any more.

“I’ve got no regrets,” he told Code Sports. “I got a double hundred against India and did okay.”

Ryder made a comeback attempt in 2012-13 after giving up alcohol, excelling at the domestic level but felt he didn’t get another chance at making the Black Caps again.

“There’s a period there where I was two years sober and I tried to get back in the team and they didn’t give me an opportunity,” Ryder said.

“That was my period where I was actually dominating domestic outdoor cricket and I wanted to have one more crack while I had such a good mindset.

“I felt that I could be one of the top batters in the world, but I didn’t get the chance.”

Indoor cricket has always been special to Ryder after first playing the game as a teenager in Napier.

Ryder and the New Zealand team are out to stop Australia’s run of 10 straight World Cup titles going back to 1995, seven of which New Zealand were the runners-up.

“I played with their dads and now I get to play with their sons and watch them become legends,” he said.

Photos / Photosport Jesse Ryder celebrates his maiden test match century on day one of the first test between New Zealand and India at Seddon Park, Hamilton, on March 18, 2009. Inset: Ryder makes it a double century in the second test at McLean Park, Napier, nine days later.