Jesse Ryder: 'I'm lucky not to be dead'

As the blackness receded and Jesse Ryder regained consciousness after 56 hours in an induced coma, one of his first thoughts was, "Oh, God, not another issue!"
Issues and Ryder have gone hand in hand since the burly batsman burst on to the New Zealand cricket scene in 2008.
Late-night drinking, a hand slashed when he stuck it through a toilet window, more late-night drinking, verbally abusing team manager Dave Currie... no wonder he thought he was in trouble again.
But this time the next "issue" - inadvertently taking a banned drug - was still some time away. Before that, he had a bigger struggle on his hands, namely fighting for his life.
In late March, Ryder was rushed to intensive care with a suspected fractured skull and a serious lung injury after being attacked in the early hours of the morning outside a Christchurch bar.
He spent 56 hours in an induced coma while fans, friends and strangers held candlelight vigils as word spread that one of the country's most talented and polarising sportsmen was in a precarious state.
Ryder, seven months on and by his own admission not a "deep and meaningful" person, realises how lucky he is to be alive.
"After being told what happened, you start thinking a bit. I mean, we've all heard the stories of guys hitting their heads and dying after being punched and falling to the ground," he said.
"I look back and think I am lucky not to be dead."

David Warner punished after missing cricket game to go to the races

The Australia batsman David Warner has been handed a one-match suspended sentence from Cricket New South Wales after missing a grade match to go to the races.
Warner was scheduled to line up for Randwick Petersham on the second day of their two-day match against Northern Districts, but instead spent the day at Royal Randwick racecourse for Epsom Day. All New South Wales players are required to play for their grade clubs when available and fully fit.
The sanction continues a miserable year for Warner, who found himself embroiled in controversy on Australia's summer tour of England. The 26-year-old was suspended from Australia's two tour matches that preceded The Ashes series, as well as a Champions Trophy clash, for punching the England batsman Joe Root in a night club incident.
The suspension deprived Warner of any chance of getting much-needed batting practice ahead of The Ashes which led to him also sitting out the first two Tests against England. When Warner finally won his spot back, he could manage only 138 runs at an average of 23 in the final three Ashes battles.
Warner's woes did not stop there, though, as the 26-year-old was dropped from Australia's one-day squad for the five-match series against England in September.
Australia's coach, Darren Lehmann, cited Warner's lack of form in the 50-over arena as the reason for his omission and Lehmann urged the fiery opener to head back to state level and make enough runs to be considered again. But Warner's ambitions for a recall have hit a serious snag with scores of only four and zero next to his name from his first two outings with the Blues in the Ryobi Cup so far.

Bangladesh cricket's poor summer a big learning curve

Off the field, the picture of Bangladesh cricket is very lugubrious while on the field there is hardly any cricket. Sports journalists in Bangladesh are irked because of continuous reporting about the off-field sagas. They wish to write reports about the on-field actions.

There was an opportunity for the Tigers to brush away this dull situation of Bangladesh cricket with a spirit-lifting performance. The Bangladesh Under-19, Under-23 and A teams were touring England and Singapore respectively and it was expected that each would dole out a fair show, but sadly it was not to be. The pens of our sports journalists couldn't break the monotony of essaying dull reports.

The summer in England and Singapore had turned out to be an absolute disaster as the Bangladeshis hardly could relish any triumphs. Much was expected from the A team of whom 13 from the 15-man squad had international experience. Rather than demonstrating any sort of fight, let alone victories, they lost seven of the eight matches they played. The county teams mesmerised them at will and the Tigers were as helpless as timid kittens. In the last one-dayer against the England Lions, they dished out a consolation win but it wasn't enough to hide the miseries of such a pathetic summer.

Like the A team, the U-19 and U-23 teams too were impecunious. In the U-19 tri-nation tournament in England, our young guns found it tough against England and Pakistan while in the U-23 Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams tournament in Singapore, a less professional like UAE side thrashed the team.

But is such a shoddy performance surprising? Before such tours, our players did undergo some conditioning camp but how effective such conditioning camps can be if you don't play active cricket? Our cricketers have hardly played any form of active cricket since the last Zimbabwe tour. You remain focused and in a rhythm by playing domestic cricket at home and it always keeps you well prepared. Now, if there is no first-class cricket at home then how can you expect the boys to fare well in England after undergoing some conditioning camp? No matter how many national cricketers you include in the A team they will never bring the best of results if these players are not in the perfect rhythm.

From many sections of the press and cricket experts there is a hue and cry regarding this dismal summer. But in my opinion, the world has not ended for Bangladesh but it has brought some crude facts into light - rather than the poor show of our boys, it's the less professional approach of our cricket officials which has led to such a bemused outcome. Our officials should've never left our domestic cricket jet-logged.

Its better to think about the bright side of the scenario. There have been some good performances by some of the U-19 boys. Musaddek Hossain and Sadman Islam are two youngsters who have been highly impressive during the tri-nation U-19 tournament in England. They coped well under adverse situations and certainly are bright prospects for the future if nurtured carefully. At the other end, from the U-23 team, Soumaya Sarker looked very impressive while from the A team Anamul Haque junior and Elias Sunny were consistent amid an absolute rut.

Moreover, these tours, especially the England tour, should be a big learning curve for our boys. Such away tours are always helpful in discovering self-deficiencies and developing a rock solid temperament. Even if this summer was a disaster for the Tigers but it had been a good education for the young boys and it might prove productive if the young boys learn from these tours.

County - Durham continue to frustrate Tykes

Durham had resumed the day on 406 for six after Mark Stoneman and Ben Stokes had guided them to a strong position after an early double strike by Ryan Sidebottom.

Collingwood was unbeaten on 74 overnight but he added just seven more runs before becoming Sidebottom's fourth wicket of the innings when he was lbw, his 81 coming off 152 balls.
Mark Wood joined Richardson at the crease but fell for 20.
Richardson was unbeaten on 58 at the interval with Jamie Harrison on 31 in a 61-run stand.
Maurice Chambers finished with five wickets as Sussex lost their final three men for 33 runs as their hopes of a late title charge suffered a blow against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
They had started well on Wednesday before losing seven wickets for 74 runs with Chris Jordan's unbeaten 58 providing some stability to close on 278 for seven.
However, Jordan moved on to 61 when he was bowled by Keith Barker, his third victim of the innings, and with no further runs on the board, Will Beer fell for 31, lbw to Chambers.
Steve Magoffin and James Anyon inched the score on to 311 before the former became Chambers' fifth victim.
However, Magoffin engineered the perfect response by reducing the hosts to two for two, removing both Varun Chopra and Ateeq Javid for ducks.
Warwickshire were 19 for two at lunch.
Piyush Chawla was unbeaten on 111 as Somerset continued the fightback they started on Wednesday against Middlesex at Lord's.
Chawla resumed on 58 not out and he wasted no time in setting about the the hosts' attack, reaching his hundred off 139 deliveries in 187 minutes, a ton that included four sixes and 10 boundaries.
Alfonso Thomas was far more cautious, his 37 coming off 124 balls as Somerset made lunch on 413 for eight.
In Division Two, a strong performance by the Lancashire tail saw them reach 421 against Hampshire at Southport.
Luke Procter made 66 but it was the two tail-enders Glen Chapple and Simon Kerrigan who really stood out.
Chapple was the last man out for 63 off just 65 deliveries, including five boundaries and two sixes, while Kerrigan was unbeaten on 62 off 70 balls.
Hampshire were five without loss.
There was no play between Gloucestershire and Essex at Bristol with rain preventing any action in the morning session.
Leicestershire lost their final three wickets for just three runs against Worcestershire as Alan Richardson claimed a hat-trick to finish with five for 57 at Grace Road.
Resuming on 270 for seven, the hosts made four runs before Ollie Freckingham (26), Matthew Hoggard (nought) and Alex Wyatt (nought) were all removed in successive deliveries
However, Leicestershire hit back before lunch, Hoggard claiming the scalps of Matthew Pardoe (two) and Daryl Mitchell (23) with Ben Raine taking out Moeen Ali (25) as Worcestershire reached lunch on 65 for three.
Glamorgan reached lunch on 180 for two in their match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.
Stephen Peters (61) and James Middlebrook (59) were the men out, both falling victim to Michael Reed.
Derbyshire were 75 for two at lunch on day one of their clash with Surrey at The Oval.

Edwards: This is just the start

England regained the Ashes with a five-wicket win in Thursday's second NatWest Twenty20 international at the Ageas Bowl.

The victory sparked wild celebrations that were in stark contrast to the mood of the team just six months ago.
England endured a forgettable winter when they lost the World Twenty20 final to Australia by four runs, before then surrendering their 50-over world title to the same opponent in February.
Those disappointments have been firmly put to one side over the past month, as England have outplayed the tourists in the multi-format series to lead 10-4 ahead of Saturday's Twenty20 finale at Chester-le-Street.
And with the return Ashes series this winter - when the points-based system will again be used - Edwards has warned that her side will only improve before then.
"This group of players can get better and better," she said.
"This is just the start for us. We're building confidence with this group.
"We're working hard and we've got to work even harder."
Edwards endorsed the newly created multi-format series - which included one Test, and three one-day and Twenty20 internationals.
England had been in trouble when they drew the Test before losing the first ODI at Lord's, but four successive wins ensured they reclaimed the Ashes with a game to spare.
"It's been fantastic. The Test match seems a long time ago now," she said.
"From an England perspective it has been fantastic. It's been great to play over the formats.
"The most pleasing thing for us is that we've been able to beat them over all formats, which bodes well for the future."
Spinner Danielle Hazell is looking forward to lifting the Ashes trophy in front on her home crowd on Saturday, and is determined to do so after another win.
"Tomorrow is still an international game of cricket and we're still looking to put in a good performance and to win the game," she said.
"We'll try to get more points on the board and a better performance to hopefully build towards going back down to Australia to keep them.
"Durham is my home ground and I am obviously looking forward to playing here and lifting the Ashes here.
"I'm going to have family and friends come along and hopefully we should have a big crowd before the men play too."

Australia wants to play day-night tests in 2015

 

Australia will trial day-night matches in the domestic Sheffield Shield competition later this year with a view to playing Tests against New Zealand under lights in 2015-16.

The three four-day matches will be played using a pink ball with further trials to take place in the 2014-15 domestic season as Cricket Australia looks to maximise exposure of long-form cricket to television audiences.

"There is a lot of work to be done and nothing is guaranteed but this summer's trials are our first serious effort to make day-night Test cricket a reality," CA chief James Sutherland said.
"We've also had some discussions with New Zealand Cricket to gauge their interest in the concept over the past few weeks given they are due to tour Australia in late 2015.
"This is all about the fans. Cricket can't afford to sit on its hands and must keep working hard to ensure Tests remain the most popular form of the game.
"There isn't a major team sport in the world that schedules the majority of its premium content during the working week. At least three days of a Test are played when adults are at work and kids are at school."
A previous experiment with day-night Sheffield Shield matches in the 1990s was scrapped after problems with yellow and orange balls, which lost colour and were affected by the evening dew.
Sutherland accepted there would be resistance to the plans and conceded there were still some issues with the ball that would need to be resolved.
"Cricket needs to address the hurdles standing in the way of day-night Test cricket in a rational, mature way," he added.
"We acknowledge that one of the critical aspects is how the ball wears, behaves and is seen over the course of an innings.
"There are also some concerns about dew on the ground at night. There may need to be some flexibility and compromise to get to the outcome."
Sutherland said day-night Test cricket would benefit the game worldwide but did not foresee an end to the tradition of watching Test cricket over a long summer day.
"We are not proposing all Tests should be played at night in the long term," he said.
"However there are certain venues and times of the year where day-night Test cricket can potentially enhance and further promote and support the game."

Finch’s furious century puts cricket back in the headlines

This summer the cricket headlines on the sports pages have been as much about DRS, HotSpot and bad umpiring as Ian Bell’s batting or Michael Clarke’s captaincy in the Ashes.
We have had the David Warner/Joe Root saga, where the Australian batsman’s senses went Walkabout when he punched the England opener after a night of carousing in a Birmingham nightclub. We have had ‘Boofgate’, when Darren Lehmann publicly accused Stuart Broad of ‘blatant cheating’ in an ill-advised interview with an Australian radio station.
And finally we have had ‘Cricileaks’ as the English cricketers boorishly celebrated their Ashes win with a late-night version of The Sprinkler at the Oval.
Friday’s headlines were, thankfully, all about cricket, and in particularly the record-breaking innings by Australia opener Aaron Finch in the first T20 international against England at the Ageas Bowl.
Most of the crowd in Southampton had probably never heard of Aaron James Finch, playing in only his seventh T20 international.
Finch had scored just 12 runs in his previous three T20 innings for Australia, but he tore up the recent formbook on Thursday with an incredible 156 from 63 balls in which included 14 sixes and 11 fours.
It was the highest individual score in any T20 international, one so big that it if the cricket results had a Vidiprinter it would have appeared as AJ Finch 156 (One Hundred and Fifty-Six).
Finch had looked likely to break South African Richard Levi’s 45-ball record for the quickest T20 international hundred, made against New Zealand in February 2012, when he entered the 90s off only 36 balls.
The 26-year-old started to deal in singles in the 90s as the nerves set in, but he finally reached his ton with a six off England skipper Stuart Broad off his 47th ball.
"You could probably tell I started blocking the hell out of it around a hundred. I did get a little bit nervous but had no idea what the record was," Finch said afterwards
Finch’s batting got better and better after he had passed his personal landmark, and he took only 13 balls to progress from 100 to 150.
It seemed that Australia would surpass the highest score in international T20 cricket, the 260 for 6 set by Sri Lanka in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 against Kenya.
But the innings unsurprisingly lost its momentum when Finch was bowled by Jade Dernbach off the inside edge off the second ball of the 18th over, and Australia’s total of 248 for six fell 12 runs short of Sri Lanka’s record.
England finished just 39 runs short of Australia’s imposing total in their spirited reply, and there will certainly be grounds for optimism for Broad and England’s limited-overs coach Ashley Giles when the teams meet again at the Riverside on Saturday.
Joe Root’s jaw seems to be a magnet for Australians this summer, but the young Yorkshire batsman recovered from the shock of sustaining a bloody mouth after top-edging a ball from Josh Hazlewood into his helmet grill to score 90 not out from 49 balls.
Man-of-the-match Finch may be man-of-the-moment, but the Victorian is aware that his place in the Australia squad for the five One-Day Internationals is still far from secured.
Finch averages just 15 with the bat in ODI cricket, but hopes the Australian selectors will take notice of his record-breaking T20 innings.
"Hopefully I've staked a pretty good claim for the rest of the series and hopefully I can stay on," he said.